Athens 2004 Official Report - LA84 Foundation

Left page: 

Ahmed Almaktoum of the United 

Arab Emirates discards his spent 

cartridges during the men's trap 

finals. 

© Getty Images/M. Hewitt 

Competition Sequence 

Olympic Shooting competition lasted 9 days from 14 to 22 August. 

Men's Shooting was one of the nine sports on 

the programme of the first Olympic Games of 

modem times in Athens in 1896. In the Paris 

Games in 1900, live pigeons were used as 

moving targets; this was eventually considered 

unethical and unsporting, so after 1900 the 

pigeons were replaced with clay targets ("clay 

pigeons"). The women's Shooting disciplines 

were first included in the 1984 Los Angeles 

Games. 

Shooting 

Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun 

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 

Description 

The rules of Shooting vary according to the 

discipline, distance and types of target and arm, 

firing position, number of shots and the time 

within which the shots have to be fired. Special 

rules are applied to determine ranking in the 

event of a tie. Each discipline consists of a 

qualification and a final round. The score in the 

final round is added to the competitor's score in 

the qualification round, and the winner is the 

competitor with the most points at the end of 

the match. ATHENS 2004 Olympic Shooting 

Events took place on the following ranges: 

• The 10-metre Shooting range (with eighty 

firing points for air gun events and four Running 

target stands). 

• The 25-metre Shooting range (with ten 

stands of five targets each). 

• The 50-metre Shooting range (with eighty 

firing points). 

• The indoor Shooting range where the finals 

were held (with ten airgun Shooting points; six 

Running target stands; twenty Shooting points 

for the 50-metre events; six stands of five 

targets each for the 25-metre events). 

• Four Clay Target Shooting ranges, three for 

the qualification round and one for the finals. 

Men's:10 

Women's:7 

Competitors: 390 

Event 

Men 

10m Air Rifle 

50m Rifle Prone 

50m Rifle 3 Positions 

50m Pistol 

25m Rapid Fire Pistol 

10m Air Pistol 

10m Running Target 

Trap 

Double Trap 

Skeet 

Women 

50m Rifle 3 Positions 

10m Air Pistol 

25m Pistol 

Trap 

Double Trap 

Skeet 

10m Air Rifle 

Venue 

Shooters 

47 

46 

40 

42 

17 

47 

19 

35 

Total: 17 

All Shooting events in the ATHENS 2004 

Olympic Games took place in the Markopoulo 

Olympic Shooting Centre. The Centre 

extended over 312.000 sq.m. in the region of 

east Attica. It consisted of four main buildings 

25 

41 

33 

41 

37 

17 

15 

12 

44 

NOC 

33 

34 

29 

31 

14 

35 

12 

26 

19 

33 

22 

30 

26 

16 

12 

11 

31 

Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad 387

Right page: 

Alexei Alipov of Russia is 

congratulated by Ahmed 

Almaktoum of the UAE after 

victory in the men's trap finals. 

Three days later, Almaktoum won 

gold in the double trap. 


388 

with a total capacity of 4.000 spectators for the 

events of Shooting with mobile and clay targets. 

Other facilities included restaurants, hostels, 

indoor halls for finals, reception areas, press 

areas, parking areas, etc. The venue hosted the 

ISSF World Cup on 22 to 30 April 2004. 

Games Highlights 

Two world and 10 Olympic records were set at 

the Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre as 

390 of the world's best shooters gathered to 

contest 17 events over nine days. Chinese 

shooters led the way with four gold medals in a 

total of nine, while Russian shooters won three 

gold in a total often. Germany, USA, Italy and 

Korea followed with three medals, as 51 medals 

were shared among 22 of the more than 100 

nations represented. Two world and four 

Olympic records were also equalled at a venue 

highly praised by both shooters and officials. 

Men's Events 

Men's 10m Air Pistol 

In the Men's 10m Air Pistol events, three-time 

Olympic medal winner Yifu WANG (CHN) - 

gold in Barcelona 1992 and silver in Atlanta 1996 

and Sydney 2000 - won the gold medal in a 

tiebreak, against Mikhail NESTRUEV (RUS). 

Along the way, WANG set at a Final Olympic 

record of 690.0 points. NESTRUEV set a new 

Olympic record of 591, after the qualification 

round. The bronze medallist was Russian 

Vladimir ISAKOV. The 34-year-old, who 

competed in Atlanta in 1996, couldn't catch the 

leaders, but held his third place after the 

qualification round to win his first Olympic 

medal. 

Men's 10m Air Pistol 

Name 

Gold WANG Yifu 

Silver NESTRUEV Mikhail 

Bronze ISAKOV Vladimir 

4th KIRIAKOV Tanyu 

5th JIN Jong Oh 

6th KIM Hyon Ung 

7th BAKHTAMYAN Norayr 

8th KIM Jong Su 

Men's 10m Air Rifle 

Name 

Gold ZHU Qinan 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad 

LI Jie 

GONCI Jozef 

CHEON Min Ho 

ECKHARDT Maik 

JE Sung Tae 

BINDRA Abhinav 

PARKER Jason 

NOC 

CHN 

RUS 

RUS 

BUL 

KOR 

PRK 

ARM 

PRK 

NOC 

CHN 

CHN 

SVK 

KOR 

GER 

KOR 

IND 

USA 

Points 

690.0 

689.8 

684.3 

683.4 

682.9 

682.0 

681.9 

681.2 

Points 

702.7 

701.3 

697.4 

696.6 

696.3 

696.3 

694.6 

694.5 

Men's Trap 

"The wind was against us and it was very difficult 

to achieve these results and you now see the 

strongest in front of you," said Alexei ALIPOV, 

29, from Russia, after winning the gold medal in 

the Men's Trap event. He was in first position of 

the qualification rounds and equals the Olympic 

World Record of 124 targets. Giovanni 

PELLIELO from Italy, won the Olympic silver 

medal. The Bronze medallist of Sydney 2000 

started in position three, after the qualification 

round and ended up on place two, ahead of 

Adam VELLA from Australia. 

Men's 10m Air Rifle 

China's Qinan ZHU, 19, started the final of the 

Men's 10m Air Rifle event, by setting a new 

Olympic Record of 599 after the qualification 

round. He also equalled the Junior Men World 

record. The young Chinese athlete, who started 

to compete internationally last year, won the 

gold medal by following up with an Olympic 

final record of 702.7. He was followed by his 

countryman Jie LI (24). LI was just as 

untouchable as ZHU in second place and won 

silver with a total of 701.3. Bronze went to Jozef 

GONCI, 30, from Slovakia. GONCI started the 

final in position four and almost lost his place 

through his ninth shot of 9.3 to Min Ho 

CHEON (KOR), but managed to regain his 

position with his last shot of 10.4. 

Men's 50m Pistol 

Mikhail NESTRUEV (RUS) followed his silver in 

the 10m Air Pistol event, with a gold in 50m 

Pistol. NESTRUEV had started the final two 

points behind the Korean Jong Oh JIN , and 

claimed gold with his last final shot of 10.4. JIN, 

who lost his chance for gold, through his failed 

seventh shot of 6.9, won silver with a total score 

of 661.5. Bronze went to Jong Su KIM from the 

People's Republic of Korea. 

Men's Trap 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

ALIPOV Alexei 

PELLIELO Giovanni 

VELLA Adam 

ALMAKTOUM Ahmed 

BADE Lance 

ALMUDHAF Khaled 

KIRCHSTEIN OIaf 

DIAMOND Michael 

Men's 50m Pistol 

Name 

Gold NESTRUEV Mikhail 

Silver JIN Jong Oh 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

KIM Jong Su 

BAKHTAMYAN Norayr 

KOKOREV Boris 

ISSACHENKO Vladimir 

KIRIAKOV Tanyu 

LORENZO Isidro 

NOC 

RUS 

ITA 

AUS 

UAE 

USA 

KUW 

GER 

AUS 

NOC 

RUS 

KOR 

PRK 

ARM 

RUS 

KAZ 

BUL 

ESP 

Points 

149 

146 

145 

144 

143 

141 

119 

119 

Points 

663.3 

661.5 

657.7 

654.8 

654.6 

654.5 

654.3 

652.0


390 


Men's Double Trap 

Ahmed ALMAKTOUM (UAE) won gold in 

Men's Double Trap after a new Olympic record 

of 144 after the qualification round. He then 

equalled the Olympic Final record of 189 targets 

set by Mark Russell in 1996. Rajyavardhan Singh 

RATHORE (IND) won silver with a final score 

of 179 targets, while Zheng WANG (CHN) 

took bronze. 

Men's 10m Running Target 

Manfred KURZER (GER) won gold in the Men's 

10m Running Target event. The two-time world 

champion set a world record of 590 in the 

qualification round, starting the final with a six 

point lead. In the final KURZER gave his chasers 

hope, after two shots of 6.5 and 5.4, before 

steadying. Silver and bronze went to Russians 

Alexander BLINOV and Dimitri LYKIN. 

Men's 50m Rifle Prone 

Matthew EMMONS (USA) won gold in the 

Men's 50m Rifle Prone event, after starting the 

final with a head start of one point. He won 

with a score of 703.3. Christian LUSCH (GER) 

took silver, after entering the final round in 

second position, missing his chance for gold 

with a last shot of 9.9. Bronze went to Sergei 

MARTYNOV (BLR), who also won bronze in 

Sydney 2000. 

Men's Double Trap 

Name 

NOC 

Gold ALMAKTOUM Ahmed UAE 

Silver RATHORE Rajyavardhan S. IND 

Bronze WANG Zheng 

CHN 

4th HU Binyuan 

CHN 

5th DAHLBY Hakan SWE 

6th SCHANZ Waldemar GER 

7th Dl SPIGNO Daniele ITA 

8th ALDEEHANI Fehaid KUW 

Men's 50m Rifle Prone 

Name 

Gold EMMONS Matthew 

Silver LUSCH Christian 

Bronze MARTYNOV Sergei 

4th GONCI Jozef 

5th DE NICOLO Marco 

6th ECKHARDT Maik 

7th BABB Michael 

8th JIA Zhanbo 

Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions 

Name 

Gold JIA Zhanbo 

Silver ANTI Michael 

Bronze PLANER Christian 

4th DEBEVEC Rajmond 

5th KHADJIBEKOV Artem 

6th FARNIK Thomas 

7th AIVAZIAN Artur 

8th EMMONS Matthew 

NOC 

USA 

GER 

BLR 

SVK 

ITA 

GER 

GBR 

CHN 

NOC 

CHN 

USA 

AUT 

SLO 

RUS 

AUT 

UKR 

USA 

Points 

189 

179 

178 

177 

177 

175 

134 

134 

Points 

703.3 

702.2 

701.6 

700.5 

699.7 

697.6 

696.8 

696.6 

Points 

1264.5 

1263.1 

1262.8 

1262.6 

1261.6 

1261.4 

1261.0 

1257.4 

Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol 

Ralf SCHUMANN (GER) won gold in the 

Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event. He entered 

the final tied with two other athletes, Russians 

Sergei POLIAKOV and Sergei ALIFIRENKO, on 

a score of 592 points. After shooting two series 

of 51.4 and 51.5, SCHUMANN finished with a 

difference of 2.9 points ahead of his opponents. 

It was SCHUMANN'S third Olympic gold 

medal, after Barcelona and Atlanta. He also won 

silver in Seoul and a total of 34 World Cup 

medals. Silver went to POLIAKOV, bronze to to 

ALIFIRENKO, the Olympic gold medal winner 

of Sydney 2000. 

Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions 

EMMONS (USA) fired his last shot at the 

wrong target in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event 

to hand the gold medal to Zhanbo JIA (CHN). 

EMMONS was an almost uncatchable three 

points ahead, as he took his last shot, but got a 

zero when he shot at the target of Christian 

PLANER (AUT). Officials noticed that two 

shots were registered on the target in firing 

point 3. They ruled that EMMONS fired at the 

wrong target and gave him a score of zero, 

which cost him a second gold in Athens and 

dropped him to 8th position. PLANER had 

scored a 10.6 on his last shot, while EMMONS 

hit an 8.1 on PLANER's target. Michael ANTI 

(USA) moved up to second place and PLANER 

(AUT) won an unexpected bronze medal. 

Men's 10m Running Target 

Name 

NOC 

Gold KURZER Manfred GER 

Silver BLINOV Alexander RUS 

Bronze LYKIN Dimitri 

RUS 

4th ANDERSSON Emil SWE 

5th JAKOSITS Michael GER 

6th Ll Jie 

CHN 

7th PRIANISHNIKOV Vladyslav UKR 

8th SAATHOFF Adam USA 

Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

SCHUMANN Ralf 

POLIAKOV Sergei 

ALIFIRENKO Sergei 

TKACHOV Oleg 

RAICEA lulian 

CHEN Yongqiang 

ZHANG Penghui 

PUPO Leuris 

NOC 

GER 

RUS 

RUS 

UKR 

ROM 

CHN 

CHN 

CUB 

Points 

682.4 

678.0 

677.1 

676.8 

676.7 

675.8 

575 

575 

Points 

694.9 

692.7 

692.3 

688.7 

687.6 

683.8 

585 

585

Men's Skeet 

Andrea BENELLI (ITA) claimed the gold medal 

in the Men's Skeet, after winning a shoot-off 

with Marko KEMPPAINEN (FIN). After the final, 

the result for both competitors was 149/150. 

KEMPPAINEN had equalled the world and 

Olympic record for Men's Skeet qualifying 

round with a maximum score of 125/125. 

He had led after the qualifying round, but shot 

24/25 in the final, allowing BENELLI, who shot 

25/25 to go with a qualifying round score of 

I24/I25, to catch him. BENELLI then won the 

shoot-off to add a gold medal to the bronze, 

he won in the same event, eight years ago in 

Atlanta. Juan Miguel RODRIGUEZ (CUB) won 

a three-shooter shoot-off for the bronze medal, 

defeating Nasser AL-ATTIYA (QAT), who took 

fourth place, and Shawn DULOHERY (USA), 

who finished fifth. The bronze medal 

contenders had been at 147/150 clay targets, 

after the final round. 

Women's Events 

Women's 10m Air Rifle 

The Women's 10m Air Rifle provided a 

remarkable start to the programme with two 

Olympic records set, one during the 

qualification round by Lioubov GALKINA 

(RUS) and one during the final by Li DU 

(CHN). DU, 22, went on to win gold after 

entering the final in second position, and 

finishing with an Olympic record of 502.0. 

Second place went to GALKINA, 31. The threetime 

world record holder set an Olympic 

record of 399 after the qualification round and 

entered the final in first place, before losing to 

Men's Skeet 

Name 

NOC 

Gold BENELLI Andrea ITA 

Silver KEMPPAINEN Marko FIN 

Bronze RODRIGUEZ Juan Miguel CUB 

4th AL-ATTIYA Nasser QAT 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

DULOHERY Shawn 

JENSEN Harald 

NIELSEN Michael 

WATN DAL Erik 

USA 

NOR 

DEN 

NOR 

Women's 10m Air Pistol 

Name 

NOC 

Gold KOSTEVYCH Olena UKR 

Silver SEKARIC Jasna 

SCG 

Bronze GROZDEVA Maria BUL 

4th REN Jie 

CHN 

5th PADERINA Natalia RUS 

6th DORJSUREN Munkhbayar GER 

7th FROELICH Cornelia SUI 

8th ASHUMOVA Irada AZE 

Points 

149 

149 

147 

147 

147 

145 

122 

121 

Points 

483.3 

483.3 

482.3 

482.3 

481.9 

481.9 

481.5 

481.4 

DU with her last shot of 9.7. Bronze went to 

22-year-old Katerina KURKOVA (CZE). 

Women's 10m Air Pistol 

The Women's 10m Air Pistol event kept 

everyone in suspense until the last shot. Olena 

KOSTEVYCH (UKR), l9, was in incredible form 

during the final after making her way from 

eighth position after the qualification round to a 

tied first place with favourite Jasna SEKARIC, 38, 

from Serbia and Montenegro. KOSTEVYCH, 

concentrating on her shots during the final and 

not following her steady progress, was 

absolutely stunned after finding herself in a 

shoot-off with her opponent SEKARIC. With a 

shoot-off shot of 10.2, KOSTEVYCH won gold 

medal. Jasna SEKARICH who had started the 

final on position one and then lost the shoot-off 

against KOSTEVYCH with a 9.4 won the 

Olympic silver medal. The Olympic bronze 

medal went to Maria GROZDEVA (BUL). 

Women's Trap 

The 31-year-old Australian Suzanne BALOGH, 

showed her talent after starting the final with a 

one clay target lead to her competitors and 

finishing four clay targets ahead despite the 

extreme winds during the Women's Trap. In 

second place was Maria QUINTANAL, 34, from 

Spain. She finished the final with a total of 84 

clay targets. The fight for the bronze was neck 

and neck. Bo Na LEE (KOR), 23, shot extremely 

well after starting in position six after the 

qualification round. The Korean athlete missed 

only two targets in outdoing all other 

competitors to beat Whitly LOPER (USA). 

Women's 10m Air Rifle 

Name 

Gold DU Li 

Silver GALKINA Lioubov 

Bronze KURKOVA Katerina 

4th ZHAO Yinghui 

5th GOLDOBINA Tatiana 

6th PFEILSCHIFTER Sonja 

7th BRIZE Laurence 

8th SHIRUR Suma 

Women's Trap 

Name 

Gold BALOGH Suzanne 

Silver QUINTANAL Maria 

Bronze LEE Bo Na 

4th LOPER Whitly 

5th KIERMAYER Susanne 

6th NATTRASS Susan 

7th FELICI Emanuela 

8th TAKEBA Taeko 

NOC 

CHN 

RUS 

CZE 

CHN 

RUS 

GER 

FRA 

IND 

NOC 

AUS 

ESP 

KOR 

USA 

GER 

CAN 

SMR 

JPN 

Points 

502.0 

501.5 

501.1 

500.8 

499.5 

498.7 

497.9 

497.2 

Points 

88 

84 

83 

82 

79 

76 

60 

59 


Right page, 

from top to bottom: 

Gold medallist Ahmed Almaktoum 

of the UAE competes in the men's 

double trap event on 17 August. 

© Getty Images/E. Shaw 

China's Li Du prepares her rifle 

during the final of the women's 

10m air rifle event. She won gold 

with a score of 502 points, setting 

a new final Olympic record. 

© AFP/E. Feferberg 

Russian Lioubov Galkina shoots 

during the final of the women's 

10m air rifle event, in which she 

won silver. She also won gold in 

the 50m rifle three positions event. 

© AFP/E. Feferberg 

392 


Women's Double Trap 

Kimberly RHODE (USA) won gold in Women's 

Double Trap, after a nerve-racking competition 

with Bo Na LEE (KOR). The two started the 

final with a tied result of 110 targets, and RHODE 

won by one target to collect her third Olympic 

medal. Bronze went to E GAO(CHN). 

Women's 25m Pistol event 

Maria GROZDEVA (BUL) won gold in the 

Women's 25m Pistol event. She started the final 

round in position three and set a Final Olympic 

Record of 688.2. GROZDEVA had also won 

bronze in the 10m Air Pistol. Silver was won by 

Lenka HYKOVA (CZE) with 687.8. Bronze went 

to Irada ASHUMOVA from Azerbaijan, who 

held position one after the qualification round 

and fell back to third place after shooting a 7.9 

in her second series. 

Women's Skeet 

A perfect final round - hitting all 25 targets - 

ensured gold for Diana IGALY (HUN) in the 

Women's Double Trap 

Name 

Gold RHODE Kimberly 

Silver LEE Bo Na 

Bronze GAO E 

4th LI Qingnian 

5th INOUE Megumi 

6th STANTON Nadine 

7th TRINDALL Susan 

8th LIN Yi Chun 

Women's Skeet 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

IGALY Diana 

WEI Ning 

MEFTAKHETDINOVA 

Zemfira 

MARK Lauryn 

RHODE Kimberly 

SMOTEK Connie 

Rl Hyon Ok 

CAINERO Chiara 

NOC 

USA 

KOR 

CHN 

CHN 

JPN 

NZL 

AUS 

TPE 

NOC 

HUN 

CHN 

AZE 

AUS 

USA 

USA 

PRK 

ITA 

Points 

146 

145 

142 

142 

140 

137 

106 

106 

Points 

97 

93 

93 

92 

91 

90 

68 

67 

Women's Skeet event. IGALY started the final 

round with a score of 72 targets, one target 

ahead of her competitors. Silver went to Ning 

WEI (CHN). WEI outdid Zemfira 

MEFTAKHETDINOVA from Azerbaijan in 

a shoot off, two to one. 

Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions 

The 2003 shooter of the yean Lioubov 

GALKINA (RUS), won the Women's 50m Rifle 

3 Positions event, after starting the final in 

second position behind Olga DOVGUN from 

Kazakhstan. GALKINA took the lead with her 

second final shot of 10.9 and finished the final 

round with 101.4 for a new Final Olympic 

Record of 688.4. GALKINA also won the Silver 

medal in the 10m Air Rifle event. Valentina 

TURISINI (ITA) was the surprise silver medal 

winner, her first medal in international 

competition. Bronze went to Chengyi WANG 

(CHN), who started in position four after the 

qualification round. 

Women's 25m Pistol 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

NOC 

GROZDEVA Maria BUL 

HYKOVA Lenka CZE 

ASHUMOVA Irada AZE 

CHEN Ying 

CHN 

DORJSUREN Munkhbayar GER 

OTRYAD Gundegmaa MGL 

SEO Joo Hyung 

KOR 

SALUKVADZE Nino GEO 

Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions 

Name 

NOC 

Gold GALKINA Lioubov RUS 

Silver TURISINI Valentina ITA 

Bronze WANG Chengyi CHN 

4th DOVGUN Olga KAZ 

5th LEE Hye Jin 

KOR 

6th PFEILSCHIFTER Sonja GER 

7th LECHNER Barbara GER 

8th KALNYSH Natallia UKR 

Points 

688.2 

687.8 

687.3 

686.2 

684.6 

683.4 

680.8 

678.3 

Points 

688.4 

685.9 

685.4 

684.9 

681.0 

679.6 

677.6 

677.2

Left page: 

General view of USA's Lisa 

Fernandez pitching against Greece 

in a preliminary softball game. 

The American team never lost a 

game and won gold. 



Olympic Softball competition was held from 14 to 23 August. 

Wed Thu 

11 

12 

Fr 

13 

Sat 

14 

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 

15 

Softball is an exciting game played by men and 

women of all ages all around the world. It was 

invented at the end of the 19th century as an 

indoor game and has become very popular 

among a number of countries, including the 

United States, Australia, Japan and China, to 

name a few. On 3 June 1991, in Birmingham, the 

International Olympic Committee added 

women's fast-pitch softball as a medal sport for 

the 1996 Olympic Games. In Atlanta, Softball 

made its Olympic debut, during which 120.000 

spectators watched eight nations vie for medal. 

The United States won the gold, China the 

silver and Australia the bronze. Softball's second 

appearance at the Summer Olympics came in 

September 2000 in Blacktown, Australia, where 

USA won the gold again, followed by Japan 

winning the silver and Australia winning the 

bronze. During that tournament the number of 

spectators was increased to 189.000. According 

to the International Softball Federation, today 

more than 50 million people worldwide play 

softball. 

Description 

Two teams play softball, with nine players per 

team on the field, alternating turns at bat and 

defence. The aim of the team in offence is to hit 

the ball with the bat and by consecutively 

reaching all three bases to return to the home 

plate and earn a run. The team in defence, on 

the other hand, pitches the ball to the team in 

offence, and tries to prevent the other team 

from gaining points. Softball consists of several 

disciplines characterised by the type of pitch 

delivered: fast pitch, slow pitch and modified fast 

pitch. At the Olympic Games, only the 

Women's Fast Pitch Event is included. In total, 

eight teams participate at the Olympic Games. 

The host city's national team is automatically 

included among these teams, while the rest 

16 

17 

18 

19 

Fr 

20 

Softball 

Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 

21 

qualify through World Championships and 

other regional qualifying matches. 

Event 

22 

23 

Women's Fast Pitch 

Venue 

24 

25 

Players 

120 

26 

Fr 

27 

Sat 

28 

NOC 

8 

Sun 

Women's Fast Pitch Softball were held at the 

Olympic Softball stadium in the Helliniko 

Olympic Complex. The Olympic Softball 

Stadium is a new venue situated in the heart of 

the Helliniko Olympic Complex in the south of 

Athens. The venue consists of a main Softball 

field of 4.800 seats, two warm-up fields and the 

requisite spaces for Athletes, competition 

management, Media, Olympic Family and staff 

services. 


The United States Women's Softball team 

barely even needed to break a sweat in 

steamrolling through the best teams in the 

world on its way to a third consecutive Olympic 

gold medal. USA beat Australia decisively 5-1 to 

capture the gold in the Grand Final. It was the 

third time the USA had beaten the Australians 

in the 2004 Olympic tournament. Crystl 

BUSTOS (USA) was the difference in the game, 

smashing two home runs and collecting three 

runs batted in (RBI). Pitcher Lisa FERNANDEZ 

(USA) scattered four hits over seven innings to 

get the win. It was apparent right from the start 

that the United States team, who scored 41 

runs, was the class of the eight-team field. 

Offensively the United States had the complete 

package of speed, power and timely hitting. 

Australia seemed to have the answer for 

everything, except the USA, in earning the silver 

medal. It is the best finish for Australia in 

29 


Right page: 

Japan's Hiroko Sakai throws a pitch 

during her team's women's 

preliminary Olympic Softball game 

against Chinese Taipei. 

© REUTERS/M. Finn-Kelcey 

396 


Olympic Softball, having picked up bronze 

medals in 1996 and 2000. The Aussies gave up 

20 runs to the United States in three games, 

while surrendering just four in seven games 

against other opponents. Australia was led by 

Tanya HARDING (AUS) who did not give up a 

run in 33 innings pitched until running into 

trouble in the Grand Final against the USA, 

where she gave up two homers and four 

earned runs. HARDING and Brooke WILKINS 

(AUS) combined on a rare no-hitter in 

Australia's first game against Japan. However, it 

was a generally poor Olympic tournament for 

WILKINS (AUS) who ended up with an earned 

run average (ERA) of 18.03, pitching two and 

one third innings and surrendering 13 walks. 

Natalie TITCUME's (AUS) 0.375 batting 

average, with two home runs in ten games, 

powered the offence. 

Japan survived a slow start, beginning the 

tournament with one win and three losses, to 

earn the bronze medal. Yukiko UENO (JPN) 

threw the first perfect game in the history of 

Olympic Softball on the last day of the 

preliminary round to catapult Japan into the 

semi-finals. Japan could not solve Australia 

pitcher HARDING, though, and they were shut 

out 3-0 by the Aussies in the Final. After Japan's 

last game, star third baseman Reika UTSUGI 

(JPN) announced plans to retire from playing to 

concentrate on coaching. Her long time mentor 

and coach, Taeko UTSUGI (JPN), also hinted at 

retirement. 

Meanwhile, China's batters could not figure out 

pitcher UENO and it cost them an Olympic 

Women 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Team 

United States of America 

Australia 

Japan 

People's Republic of China 

Canada 

Chinese Taipei 

Greece 

Italy 

NOC 

USA 

AUS 

JPN 

CHN 

CAN 

TPE 

GRE 

ITA 

medal. UENO followed the perfect game in the 

preliminary round, by giving up just three hits to 

Chinese batters in a shutout performance two 

days later China struggled offensively all 

tournaments, getting just three earned runs. 

However; China's opponents were seemingly 

always in a giving mood, as the Chinese team 

scored 12 runs as a result of 14 opponent errors 

in the tournament. 

Canada finished the tournament with three 

wins and four losses, the highlight being a 1-0 win 

over Softball powerhouse Japan. They had the 

same record as fourth place China, but failed to 

qualify for the semi-finals due to a 4-2 loss to 

China on the third day of competition. The 

Canadians were lead by hard-throwing 

lefthander Lauren BAY, who finished with three 

wins and two losses, striking out 36 batters in 34 

and one-third innings of work. 

Chinese Taipei struggled on offence the entire 

tournament and in the end it cost them. The 

team scored just three runs in seven games but 

managed to win two of them. 

Greece's Olympic debut in Softball was 

successful, registering two wins in seven games. 

The team was made up of 13 American-born 

players of Greek ancestry and two native 

Greeks. One highlight came when Aikaterini 

KOUTOUGKOU (GRE), from Athens, reached 

base safely in her only plate appearance of the 

tournament. 

Italy finished a disappointing tournament with 

one win and six losses.

Left page: 

China's Qi Chen and Lin Ma play 

against Hong Kong's Lai Chak Ko 

and Ching Li during their men's 

doubles table tennis gold medal 

match. 

© REUTERS/K. Doherty 

Table Tennis 


The Olympic Table Tennis Tournament was hosted from 14 to 23 August. 

The finals were held from 20 to 23 August. 

Wed Thu 

11 

As a result of Roy Evan's efforts, Table Tennis was 

recognised in 1997 as an Olympic sport and was 

included in the Summer Olympic Games for the 

first time in Seoul in 1988. After a promising 

debut, Table Tennis was staged successfully in 

Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), and Sydney 

(2000), and was also featured in the Athens 

2004 Olympic Games. In the four Olympic Table 

Tennis competition, the People's Republic of 

China have displayed their dominance in the 

sport having won 13 gold medals, while Korea 

has seized 2 gold medals and Sweden I. 

Table Tennis is currently considered one of the 

most popular sports in the world in terms of 

participation numbers, with more than 187 

National Federations members of ITTF. 

Men's: 2 

Singles 

Doubles 

12 

Fr 

13 

Description 

Sat 

14 

Sun 

15 

Women's :2 

Singles 

Doubles 

Mon Tue Wed Thu 

Table Tennis has developed into a major 

worldwide sport practised by perhaps 40 

million competitive players and by countless 

millions, who play less seriously. However, the 

game itself has not changed in essence, since its 

earliest days, though it is faster, subtler and more 

demanding than it was just twenty years ago. 

Modern Table Tennis, at both National and 

International level is as rigorous as any sport in 

its demand for the highest degree of physical 

fitness and mental concentration, attained only 

through arduous training. Table Tennis is an 

individual sport consisting of team and singles 

events. The disciplines include the men's and 

women's singles, doubles and mixed pairs. There 

are four disciplines in the Olympic Games 

programme: 

16 

17 

18 

Total:4 

19 

Fr 

20 


21 


Event 

Men 

Singles 

Doubles 

Women 

Singles 

22 

Doubles 

23 

24 

25 

Players 

64 

64 

64 

68 

26 

Fr 

27 

Sat 

28 

NOC 

39 

25 

36 

26 

Sun 

According to the game structure of the 

Olympic Tournament, athletes compete against 

each other according to the knockout system. 

Each match consists of seven sets maximum. 

The athlete who wins four sets first is the 

game's winner. 

Venue 

Table Tennis at the ATHENS 2004 Olympic 

Games was hosted at the Galatsi Olympic Hall, 

a suburb northwest of the city of Athens, which 

also hosted the Rhythmic Gymnastics events. It 

included a main building with 6.500 seats for the 

spectators, along with other surrounding areas, 

access roads, parking areas, etc. 


The Chinese squad dominated the ATHENS 

2004 Olympic Games Table Tennis event, but 

not quite as much as expected. Three of the 

four gold medals went to China, but even that 

impressive return did not fully satisfy Chinese 

expectations. 

29 


Right page: 

Hao Wang of China serves during 

the men's singles table tennis gold 

medal match against Seung Min 

Ryu of Korea, who won gold. 

© Getty Images/S. Franklin 

400 

Men's Singles 

The Men's Singles was where China missed out, 

with Korea's Seung Min RYU, the number three 

seed, taking the gold medal. A penholder grip 

player, RYU's success was not completely 

unexpected, following an impressive series of 

results on the ITTF Pro Tour in 2004. The 

experts had predicted that a player who attacks 

both wings, like the world number one Liqin 

WANG (CHN) or reigning world champion 

Werner SCHLAGER (AUT), would win the 

gold medal. The biggest surprise of the event, 

though, was 38-year-old Jan Ove WALDNER, 

gold medallist in this event at Barcelona in 1992, 

and a competitor at every Olympic Games, 

since Table Tennis debuted at Seoul in 1988. His 

fourth place, beating China's Number two Lin 

MA and the number nine seed Timo BOLL 

(GER) along the way, showed that WALDNER's 

exciting ability could still produce results. 

Women's Singles 

The Women's Singles event also provided a new 

Olympic champion, in the shape of world 

number one Yining ZHANG (CHN). The player 

without any obvious weakness had no real 

problems on her way to the title. A big shock in 

the Women's Singles was the exit of reigning 

Olympic and world champion Nan WANG, 

who crashed out at the quarterfinal stage, 

defeated by Singapore's Jia Wei LI. The surprise 

finalist came from the People's Republic of 

Korea. Hyang Mi KIM, a shake handed player with 

Men's Singles 

Name 

Gold RYU Seung Min 

Silver WANG Hao 

Bronze WANG Liqin 

4th WALDNER Jan Ove 

5th BOLL Timo 

5th LEUNG Chu Yan 

5th CHUAN Chih-Yuan 

5th KO Lai Chak 

Men's Doubles 

Name 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 


CHEN Qi 

MA Lin 

KO Lai Chak 

LI Ching 

MAZE Michael 

TUGWELL Finn 

MAZUNOV Dimitrij 

SMIRNOV Alexei 

GRUJIC Slobodan 

KARAKASEVIC Aleksandar 

LEE Chul Seung 

RYU Seung Min 

PERSSON Jorgen 

WALDNER Jan-Ove 

BLASZCZYK Lucjan 

KRZESZEWSKI Tomasz 

NOC 

KOR 

CHN 

CHN 

SWE 

GER 

HKG 

TPE 

HKG 

NOC 

CHN 

HKG 

DEN 

RUS 

SCG 

KOR 

SWE 

POL 

pimples outside rubber on the backhand side, 

defeated the great European hope, Mihaela 

STEFF (ROM), as well as Chinese number three 

Jianfeng NIU and the two Singapore players 

Xueling ZHANG and LI. 

The Doubles events were, as usual, an Asiandominated 

competition. 

Men's Doubles 

The Men's Doubles Final between Qi 

CHEN/Lin MA (CHN) and Hong Kong's duo 

Lai Chak KO/Ching LI went by the formbook, 

with the top seeded Chinese pair taking the 

gold medal. In the bronze medal match Dimitrij 

MAZUNOV and Alexei SMIRNOV (RUS) were 

defeated by Michael MAZE and Finn 

TUGWELL (DEN). 

Women's Doubles 

In the Women's Doubles, the Chinese numbers 

one and two in the world ranking, Yining 

ZHANG/Nan WANG, won a 4-0 victory over 

the impressive Koreans Eun Sil LEE/Eun Mi 

SEOK. In the bronze medal match China's 

Jianfeng NIU and Yue GUO managed to win 

over Kyung Ah KIM/Bok Rae KIM from Korea. 

The Olympic Table Tennis ranking again showed 

China in the pole position, while one gold, one 

silver and one bronze to Korea, showed a clear 

number two. Europe's hopes for the 

tournament were not realised. 


Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

Name 

ZHANG Yining 

KIM Hyang Mi 

KIM Kyung Ah 

LI Jia Wei 

WANG Nan 

ZHANG Xueling 

TIE Yana 

BOROS Tamara 


Name 

Gold WANG Nan 

ZHANG Yining 

Silver LEE Eun Sil 

SEOK Eun Mi 

Bronze GUO Yue 

NIU Jianfeng 

4th KIM Bok Rae 

KIM Kyung Ah 

5th BOROS Tamara 

VAIDA Cornelia 

5th KIM Hyang Mi 

KIM Hyon Hui 

5th SONG Ah Sim 

TIE Yana 

5th FUJINUMA Ai 

UMEMURA Aya 

NOC 

CHN 

PRK 

KOR 

SIN 

CHN 

SIN 

HKG 

CRO 

NOC 

CHN 

KOR 

CHN 

KOR 

CRO 

PRK 

HKG 

JPN

Left page: 

Hadi Saei Bonehkohal of Iran does 

a flip after winning the gold medal 

with his defeat of Chin Hsiung 

Huang of Chinese Taipei in the 

men's under 68 kg Taekwondo gold 

medal match. 

© Getty Images/I. Waldie 

Throughout its history, Taekwondo has been 

known by various names, like Taekyon or Subak. 

Its official name was announced in 1955; a year 

later, the first championships were held. The 

Korean Taekwondo Federation was founded in 

1965 and the World Taekwondo Federation 

was founded in 1973. During the same year the 

first World Championships took place. 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) 

acknowledged Taekwondo as an Olympic sport 

in 1980, an important year for the sport. It was 

included as a display event in two successive 

Olympic Games: in Seoul (1988) and Barcelona 

(1992). However, Taekwondo was included on 

the Olympic Games competition schedule for 

the first time at the Sydney Games in 2000. 

Taekwondo 


Olympic Taekwondo competition was held from 26 to 29 August. 


11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 

Description 

Taekwondo is a defensive martial art that 

combines philosophy, mental discipline, physical 

exercise and physical ability. One Taekwondo 

contest consists of three rounds of three 

minutes for men and three rounds of two 

minutes for women, each with one-minute 

intervals between rounds. The contestants, 

"Chung" (blue) and "Hong" (red), compete 

against each other by punching and kicking 

techniques performed on permitted parts of 

the body. In Taekwondo contests, kicks are 

allowed to the face and body, while punches 

are only allowed on the body. Hits below the 

lower abdomen are forbidden. All vulnerable 

parts of the body are covered with protectors. 

One referee and three judges oversee the 

contest. Points are considered valid when two 

or more judges acknowledge and register them. 

The winner of a contest is determined either by 

a knockout, by points, or when eight penalties 

are granted to the opponent. In the ATHENS 

2004 Olympic Games, there were four men's 

and four women's weight categories. 

Every day there were men's and women's 

Taekwondo matches in each of the weight 

categories starting with the lightest categories 

and ending with the heaviest. 124 competitors 

participated in the ATHENS 2004 Olympic 

Games from the five continents. Two men and 

two women athletes represented Greece, 

being the host country. 

Men's: 4 

Women's: 4 

Competitors : 124 

Event 

Men 

Under 58kg 

Under 68kg 

Under 80kg 

Over 80kg 

Women 

Under 49kg 

Under 57kg 

Under 67kg 

Over 67kg 

Venue 

Athletes 

16 

16 

16 

16 

15 

15 

15 

15 

Total: 8 

NOC 

16 

16 

16 

16 

15 

15 

15 

15 

The Olympic Taekwondo competition was held 

at the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex, 

Sports Pavilion, a completely new venue, which 

had a seating capacity for approximately 8.000 

spectators, and hosted also the Handball 

preliminary games. The Sports Pavilion together 

with the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre, the 

Marina and the Esplanade were included in a 

wider urban area redevelopment project of the 

coastal zone. 


Right page, 


Hadi Saei Bonehkohal of Iran 

dodges a kick by Huang Chih 

Hsuing of Chinese Taipei in the 

men's under 68 kg Taekwondo gold 

medal match. 


Gold medallist Sung Dae Moon of 

South Korea embraces silver 

medallist Alexandros Nikolaidis of 

Greece after defeating him in the 

over 80kg taekwondo tournament 

final on the last day of the 

ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. 

© REUTERS/K. Kyung-Hoon 

Nevena Lukic of Austria screams at 

Euda Carias of Guatemala during 

their under 49kg quarterfinal 

Taekwondo bout. Carias won the 

fight. 

© REUTERS/D. Boylan 

404 



Men's Events 

Men's Under 58kg 

In the men's Under 58kg category, Mu Yen CHU 

(TPE) defeated the Mexican athlete Oscar 

Francisco SALAZAR BLANCO. The bronze 

medal was awarded to Tamer BAYOUMI from 

Egypt, after he defeated Juan RAMOS from 

Spain. Despite high hopes, the host nation's 

Sydney gold medallist Michalis 

MOUROUTSOS did not win a medal. 


Sydney Olympic bronze medallist, Hadi SAEI 

BONEHKOHAL (IRI) completed what he 

started in Sydney, winning the ATHENS 2004 

Olympic gold medal in the Men's Under 68kg 

category. SAEI BONEHKOHAL defeated Chih 

Hsiung HUANG (TPE) by points, 4-3. 


Name 

Gold CHU Mu Yen 

Silver SALAZAR BLANCO 

Oscar Francisco 

Bronze BAYOUMI Tamer 

5th MOUROUTSOS Michalis 

5th SALEM Ezedin 

5th RAMOS Juan 

5th NGUYEN Quoc Huan 

5th SHAPOSHNYK Oleksandr 


Name 

Gold LOPEZ Steven 

Silver TANRIKULU Bahri 

Bronze KARAMI Yossef 

5th AHMADOV Rashad 

5th GEISLER Donald David III 

5th HAMDOUNI Hichem 

5th RASHEED Raid 

5th GARIBAY ESTRADA 

Victor Manuel 

NOC 

TPE 

MEX 

EGY 

GRE 

LBA 

ESP 

VIE 

UKR 

NOC 

USA 

TUR 

IRI 

AZE 

PHI 

TUN 

IRQ 

MEX 

The bronze medal was awarded to Myeong 

Seob SONG (KOR), after he defeated worthy 

adversary Diogo SUVA (BRA) 12-7. 


In the men's under 80kg category, Steven 

LOPEZ of the USA managed to win gold again. 

LOPEZ beat Bahri TANRIKULU (TUR) 3-0 to 

retain his title as Olympic champion, whereas 

Yossef KARAMI (IRI) won the bronze medal by 

defeating Rashad AHMADOV (AZE). 

Men's Over 80kg 

In the men's over 80kg category, Korea's Dae 

Sung MOON, the 1999 world champion, took 

the gold medal by winning the final by knockout 

against local favourite Alexandras NIKOLAIDIS 

(GRE). The two athletes embraced and 

covered by a Greek flag made a brief victory 

lap, much to the pleasure of the disappointed 

crowd. The bronze was awarded to Pascal 

GENTIL from France. 


Name 

Gold SAEI BONEHKOHAL Hadi 

Silver HUANG Chih Hsiung 

Bronze 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

SONG Myeong Seob 

SILVA Diogo 

ROESEN Jesper 

PASHAYEV Niyamaddin 

CALISKAN Tuncay 

SAGASTUME Gabriel 

Men's Over 80kg 

Name 

Gold MOON Dae Sung 

Silver NIKOLAIDIS Alexandros 

Bronze GENTIL Pascal 

5th KAMAL Ibrahim 

5th ZROURI Abdelkader 

5th MOITLAND CABEZAS 

Kristopher 

5th 

5th 

GARCIA Jon 

SAGINDYKOV Adilkahn 

NOC 

IRI 

TPE 

KOR 

BRA 

DEN 

AZE 

AUT 

GUA 

NOC 

KOR 

GRE 

FRA 

JOR 

MAR 

CRC 

ESP 

KAZ

406 


Women's Under 49kg 

Shih Hsin CHEN (TPE) won the gold medal, 

in the Women's Under 49kg category, after 

defeating the Cuban athlete Yanelis Yuliet 

LABRADA DIAZ by points, 4-5. The bronze 

medal was awarded to Yaowapa 

BOORAPOLCHAI (THA), after she defeated 

worthy adversary Gladys Alicia MORA 

ROMERO, 2-1. 


In the Women's Under 57kg category, Korea's Ji 

Won JANG took the gold medal by winning the 

final against Nia ABDALLAH (USA). Iridia 

SALAZAR BLANCO (MEX), a fighter who has 

won three silver medals in the last three World 

Championships, managed to take the third 

place and win the bronze, whereas the third 

place finisher at the 2003 World 

Championships, Nootcharin 

SUKKHONGDUMNOEN (THA) failed to 

reach medal standings. 


In the Women's Under 67kg category, Wei 


Name 

Gold CHEN Shih Hsin 

Silver LABRADA DIAZ Yanelis Yuliet 

Bronze BOORAPOLCHAI Yaowapa 

5th YAGUE Brigitte 

5th CARIAS Euda 

5th 

5th 

5th 


Name 

Gold LUO Wei 

Silver MYSTAKIDOU Elisavet 

Bronze HWANG Kyung Sun 

5th DIAZ Ineabelle 

5th SOLHEIM Nina 

5th WIHONGI Verina 

5th JUAREZ Heidy 

5th 


GONDA Ivett 

BAIDYA Sangina 

MORA ROMERO Gladys Alicia 

RIVERO Mary Antoinette 

NOC 

TPE 

CUB 

THA 

ESP 

GUA 

CAN 

NEP 

COL 

NOC 

CHN 

GRE 

KOR 

PUR 

NOR 

NZL 

GUA 

PHI 

LUO (CHN) defeated the Greek athlete 

Elisavet MYSTAKIDOU 7-6. The points were 

close throughout the whole match, with both 

athletes scoring a point each in the first round 

and in the second round MYSTAKIDOU took 

the lead by scoring 3 points, while LUO scored I. 

Round three began with LUO trailing, but she 

quickly caught up by scoring five points. 

MYSTAKIDOU tried to defend herself, but 

couldn't block her opponent. She managed to 

score 1 point on LUO, before the match finished 

with LUO taking the gold. The bronze medal 

was awarded to Kyung Sun HWANG (KOR), 

after she defeated Heidy JUAREZ (GUA) 5-2, 

having controlled the majority of the match. 

Women's Over 67kg 

The Women's Taekwondo tournament came to 

its conclusion with the gold medal match in the 

Women's over 67kg class going to Zhong 

CHEN (CHN), who overcame Myriam 

BAVEREL (FRA) 12-5. CHEN clearly dominated 

the match, scoring two points in the first round, 

four in the second and six in the last. Bronze 

went to Adriana CARMONA (VEN), who 

defeated Natalia SILVA (BRA) 7-4. 


Name 

Gold JANG Ji Won 

Silver ABDALLAH Nia 

Bronze SALAZAR BLANCO Iridia 

5th KAYDASHOVA Irina 

5th REYES Sonia 

5th BAH Mariam 

5th SUKKHONGDUMNOEN 

Nootcharin 

5th CORSI Cristiana 

Women's Over 67kg 

Name 

Gold CHEN Zhong 

Silver BAVEREL Myriam 

Bronze CARMONA Adriana 

5th SILVA Natalia 

5th CASTRIGNANO Daniela 

5th DAWANI Nadin 

5th OKAMOTO Yoriko 

5th STEVENSON Sarah 

NOC 

KOR 

USA 

MEX 

UZB 

ESP 

CIV 

THA 

ITA 

NOC 

CHN 

FRA 

VEN 

BRA 

ITA 

JOR 

JPN 

GBR

This page: 

China's Wei Luo is kicked by 

Greece's Elisavet Mystakidou 

during the women's under 67kg 

gold medal taekwondo match. 

The Chinese won the gold medal. 

© REUTERS/K. Kyung-Hoon 


Left page: 

Nicolas Massu of Chile follows 

through on his serve to Mardy Fish 

of the United States in the men's 

singles tennis gold medal match. 

Massu won two Olympic gold 

medals in Athens, the first ever for 

Chile. 

© Getty Images/C. Brunskill 

Tennis 


The Olympic Tennis competition took place within the span of eight days (15-22 August). 

Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr 

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 

Tennis was first introduced to the Olympic 

Games in Athens, Greece, in I896, as one of the 

nine sports of the programme. There were just 

two events, the men's singles and doubles 

(there were no women competing in Athens). 

During those Games, Dionysios Kasdaglis was 

the silver winner in the singles event, whilst the 

silver medal in doubles event was won also by 

Kasdaglis teamed with Dimitrios Petrokokkinos. 

Tennis left the Olympics in 1924, after clashes 

between the IOC and the ITF over the 

organisation of the Tennis competition, and 

did not return until 1984, when Tennis was reintroduced 

in Los Angeles, as a demonstration 

sport. Tennis went on to become a full Olympic 

sport again at the 1988 Seoul Games. 

Description 

Tennis is an attractive, dynamic and highly 

popular sport at all skill levels. However; 

athletes must develop special skills such as 

technique, stamina, speed, reflexes and 

imagination, in order to compete at a high level 

successfully. Tennis is played between two or 

four athletes. To score a point, Tennis players 

have to hit the ball with their rackets, so that it 

lands on the opponent's court, without the 

opponent being able to hit it back. The winner 

is the athlete or pair to win three sets of six 

games, each in the men's events (best-of-five set 

match) and two sets in the women's events 

(best-of-three set match). A tennis court is 

23,7m x 8,23m for singles and a 23,77m x 

10,97m for doubles. Tournament courts have 

lines marked out for both singles and doubles. 

The court is divided into two by a net, which is 

0,914 m high. Each game consists of four points. 

The first one is called 15, the second 30, and the 

third 40. The fourth is simply the "game" ball: 

the athlete or pair wins the "game" provided 

that there is a two-point difference. In case of a 

40-40 tie (deuce), the athlete or pair must win 

two subsequent points (advantage, "game"). 

The Athens Olympic Tennis Tournament was 

played on hard courts and consisted of four 

events: 

Men's: 2 

Singles 

Doubles 


Event 

Men 

Singles 

Doubles 

Women 

Singles 

Doubles 

Venue 

Women's:2 

Singles 

Doubles 

Players 

64 

64 

64 

64 

Sat Sun 

28 29 

Total: 4 

NOC 

During the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, 

Tennis competitions were staged at the 

Olympic Tennis Centre of the Athens Olympic 

Sports Complex (OAKA), situated at Maroussi. 

A total often courts was used for the 

competition: the centre court (8.600 seats), 

court 1 (4.000 seats), court 2 (2.000 seats) and 

courts 3-9 (200 seats). Competition took place 

within the span of eight days (15-22 August), 

whilst the total of men and women athletes 

competing were 172. 

32 

25 

32 

22 


410 


Games Highlights Wayne ARTHURS in the second round and 

Mahesh BHUPATHI/Leander PAES (IND) in the 

It is hard to disagree that Tennis at the 2004 

Olympic Games belonged to Chile. The nation 

came to Athens having never won a gold medal 

in any Olympic sport, and left the Tennis 

tournament with two. Chile also won a bronze 

medal. Chile's three medals were the 

culmination of wildly unpredictable Men's 

Singles and Doubles events. 

Men's Events 

Men's Singles 

Tomas BERDYCH (CZE) ousted men's world 

No.1 Roger FEDERER (SUI) in the second 

round, the same night that the 2003 Roland 

Garros Champion also made an early exit from 

the Men's Singles at the hands of Mardy FISH 

(USA). A day later in the third round, No.2 seed 

Andy RODDICK (USA), who had been jointfavourite 

with FEDERER to win the gold, fell to 

Fernando GONZALEZ (CHI). No.3 seed 

Carlos MOYA (ESP) briefly took over as the 

leading contender for Olympic gold, but swiftly 

lost to Nicolas MASSU (CHI) in the 

quarterfinals. GONZALEZ took care of No.8 

seed Sebastien GROSJEAN (FRA) in the same 

round. FISH and Taylor DENT (USA) surpassed 

expectations and the performance of higherranked 

teammate RODDICK to reach the last 

four FISH and GONZALEZ lost their semifinals, 

and it was GONZALEZ who claimed the 

bronze medal in their play-off, winning 16-14 in 

the third set. Chile defeated USA again in the 

gold medal match, with MASSU triumphing 

over FISH in a roller-coaster five setter. 

Men's Doubles 

By the time he won Singles gold, MASSU had 

already been crowned Olympic champion in 

Doubles, teaming with GONZALEZ to claim a 

historic first gold medal for Chile in any sport. 

The Chilean duo had battled their way through 

the Doubles draw with wins over No.6 seeds 

Gaston ETLIS/Martin RODRIGUEZ (ARG), and 

top-ranked pair Bob and Mike BRYAN (USA). 

They saved four match points, in a dramatic 

five-set Men's Doubles final against Nicolas 

KIEFER/Rainer SCHUETTLER(GER). 

KIEFER/SCHUETTLER had upset two seasoned 

Doubles teams en route to their silver medal, 

accounting for two-time Olympic medallist 

Todd WOODBRIDGE (AUS) and partner 

Men's Single's 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

Name 

MASSU Nicolas 

FISH Mardy 

GONZALEZ Fernando 

DENT Taylor 

GROSJEAN Sebastien 

YOUZHNY Mikhail 

MOYA Carlos 

BERDYCH Tomas 

NOC 

CHI 

USA 

CHI 

USA 

FRA 

RUS 

ESP 

CZE 

semi-finals. The Men's Doubles bronze medal 

went to wild cards Mario ANCIC/lvan 

LJUBICIC (CRO), who -in the longest match of 

the Olympic Tennis event- took four hours to 

overcome BHUPATHI/PAES in the bronze 

medal play-off. They won the third set 16-14. 


By comparison, the Women's events ran more 

true to form, but they were still compelling and 

contained plenty of surprises. 


The surprise gold medallists in the Women's 

Doubles were Ting LI and Tian Tian SUN 

(CHN), who defeated three seeded teams to 

win the title. It was a first Tennis medal for China, 

and bodes well for the 2008 Olympic Tennis 

event in Beijing. LI/SUN defeated the 

experienced No.2 seeds Conchita 

MARTINEZ/Virginia RUANO PASCUAL (ESP) 

in straight sets in the final. The bronze medal 

was won by RUANO PASCUAL's regular 

partner, Paola SUAREZ (ARG), who teamed 

with Patricia TARABINI to defeat Shinobu 

ASAGOE/Ai SUGIYAMA (JPN) in the play-off. 

Top seeds Svetlana KUZNETSOVA/Elena 

LIKHOVTSEVA (RUS) fell in the first round, 

while 47-year-old Martina NAVRATILOVA's 

(USA) dreams of a first Olympic medal with 

Lisa RAYMOND (USA) ended in the 

quarterfinals. 


World No.1 Justine HENIN-HARDENNE 

(BEL) enjoyed a spectacular return, after two 

and a half months out of tennis, due to a blood 

virus. She won Belgium's first gold medal of the 

2004 Games by defeating world No.2 Amelie 

MAURESMO (FRA) 6-3, 6-3 in the final. 

Anastasia MYSKINA (RUS), ranked No.3 in the 

world, narrowly missed out on a place in the 

final, when she lost a 1-5 lead in the final set of 

her thrilling semi-final encounter with HENIN- 

HARDENNE. She missed out again, when she 

lost the bronze medal play-off to Alicia MOLIK 

(AUS). Sydney gold medallist Venus WILLIAMS 

(USA) lost in the third round to Mary PIERCE 

(FRA), while Elena DEMENTIEVA (RUS), silver 

medallist at the 2000 Olympics, fell to MOLIK in 

the opening round. 

Men's Double's 

Name 

Gold GONZALEZ Fernando 

MASSU Nicolas 

Silver KIEFER Nicolas 

SCHUETTLER Rainer 

Bronze ANCIC Mario 

LJUBICIC Ivan 

4th BHUPATHI Mahesh 

PAES Leander 

5th ERLICH Jonathan 

RAM Andi 

5th BLACK Wayne 

ULLYETT Kevin 

5th LLODRA Michael 

SANTORO Fabrice 

5th BRYAN Bob 

BRYAN Mike 

NOC 

CHI 

GER 

GRO 

IND 

ISR 

ZIM 

FRA 

USA

This page: 

France's Amelie Mauresmo 

returns to Belgium's Justine 

Henin-Hardenne during the 

women's singles tennis final. 

The top-seeded Belgian won 

the match 6-3, 6-3 for the gold. 

© AFP/J. Demarthon 


Name 

Gold HENIN-HARDENNE Justine 

Silver MAURESMO Amelie 

Bronze MOLIK Alicia 

4th MYSKINA Anastasia 

5th KUZNETSOVA Svetlana 

5th SUGIYAMA Ai 

5th SCHIAVONE Francesca 

5th PIERCE Mary 

NOC 

BEL 

FRA 

AUS 

RUS 

RUS 

JPN 

ITA 

FRA 


Name 

Gold LI Ting 

SUN Tian Tian 

Silver MARTINEZ Conchita 

RUANO PASCUAL Virginia 

Bronze SUAREZ Paola 

TARABINI Patricia 

4th ASAGOE Shinobu 

SUGIYAMA Ai 

5th YAN Zi 

ZHENG Jie 

5th NAVRATILOVA Martina 

RAYMOND Lisa 

5th MOLIK Alicia 

STUBBS Rennae 

5th DECHY Nathalie 

TESTUD Sandrine 

NOC 

CHN 

ESP 

ARG 

JPN 

CHN 

USA 

AUS 

FRA 


Left page: 

Austria's Kate Allen crosses the 

finish line to win the women's 

triathlon event. Allen won the gold 

medal with a time of two hours 

4.43 minutes. 

© REUTERS/M. Finn-Kelcey 


Olympic Triathlon competition was held on 25 and 26 August. 

Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr Sat Sun 

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 

The strenuous and exciting sport of Triathlon 

was invented by the San Diego Track Club, as 

an alternative workout to track training and 

consisted of three different disciplines: 

swimming, cycling and running. The first 

Triathlon event - a 10km run, a 8km cycling race 

and a 500m swim - was held in 1974, in Mission 

Bay, San Diego. Triathlon gained public 

recognition and popularity and in April 1989, the 

International Triathlon Union was founded in 

Avignon, France, and the first World 

Championships were held. The official distance 

for Triathlon was set at a 1.500m swim, a 40km 

cycle and a 10km run. These distances were 

called "Olympic Distances", and now feature in 

the Olympic Games and in the World Cup 

series. In 1994, at the IOC Congress in Paris, 

Triathlon was awarded full medal status in the 

Olympic programme, whereas it made an 

impressive Olympic debut at the Sydney 

Olympic Games, in 2000. Despite its short 

history, the International Triathlon Union 

already has more than 75 affiliated nations. The 

sport has an established international circuit, 

with World Cup events held in countries 

throughout the world. 

Description 

The Olympic Triathlon competition consists 

of Swimming, Cycling and Running as one 

continuous event, whereas there are three 

different types: 

The Olympic distance triathlon, which is one of 

the 28 Olympic sports, consists of 1.500m 

Swimming, 40km Cycling and 10km Running. 

The Sprint includes 750m Swimming, 20Km 

Cycling and 5km Running. The Long distance 

consists of 4km Swimming, 120km Cycling and 

30km Running. 

Triathlon 

The Olympic distance triathlon has prevailed 

and is included in the Olympic competition 

schedule. 

Athletes competing in Triathlon begin with 

swimming, then change to cycling and finish with 

running. The winner is the athlete who crosses 

the finish line first. 

Men's: 1 

Women's: 1 

Venue 

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fr 

23 24 25 26 27 


Event 

Triathletes 

Men's 

Triathlon 

Women's 

Triathlon 

Sat 

The sport of Triathlon in the 2004 Games was 

staged in the wider area of the Municipality of 

Vouliagmeni, in southern Athens. Swimming 

took place at one of the most famous beaches, 

Oceanida. The water quality was excellent and 

the beach had all the necessary facilities. 

The start took place from a floating pontoon. 

The cycling and running were held on the 

"mountainous" side of the municipality along a 

scenic route, between the mountains and the 

sea. The cycling route had intensive technical 

characteristics with constant ascents and 

descents and spectators lined the whole route. 

Only motorcyclists carrying camera operators 

and judges were allowed to enter the 

competitive course of the cycling section. 

The running was staged in three laps of 3,3km. 

As required, there was provision for water 

stations for the athletes every 850m. During 

cycling, there were 6 pits with wheels (wheel 

50 

50 

28 

Total: 2 

NOC 

26 

25 

Sun 

29 


414 


stations) in case of tyre puncture. The test 

event of Cycling was successfully conducted at 

this venue in August 2003. 

Men's Individual 

New Zealand triathletes made history, after 33year-old 

Hamish CARTER executed the perfect 

tactical race to win the Men's Triathlon, holding 

off teammate Bevan DOCHERTY, the fastest 

runner in the sport of Triathlon, in the final run 

to the line. DOCHERTY, the reigning world 

champion, and one of the few men to have run 

a sub-30 minute 10km split in a Triathlon, 

attacked CARTER relentlessly in the final lap of 

the run, but CARTER maintained his smooth 

running form and composure to pull away in 

the final kilometre, to win by 7.87 seconds. 

Not since the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, 

when Blythe TAIT and Sally CLARK took gold 

and silver respectively in the Equestrian Three 

Day Individual Event, have two New Zealanders 

stood together on an Olympic podium in first 

and second place. Brilliant young Swiss triathlete 

Sven RIEDERER claimed the bronze medal in 

1:51:33.26, after tenaciously hanging on to the 

New Zealanders throughout the run leg, only 

losing touch when the surges began in the 

closing stages. The medallists had earlier been 

part of a decisive breakaway group, during the 

cycle leg, masterminded by the strongest cyclist 

in the field, Olivier MARCEAU (SUI). In a move 

that ultimately decided the podium finishers, 

MARCEAU dragged five other riders up the 

700m cycle leg hill on the second of the five 

laps, opening a narrow break on the ensuing 

downhill that extended to a lead into T2 (the 

cycle to run transition) of 47 seconds. The 

break containing MARCEAU, Andrew JOHNS 

(GBR), RIEDERER, DOCHERTY, CARTER and 

Frenchman Frederic BELAUBRE, was launched 

only minutes after most of the field had swum 

together for the 1.500m open water swim leg. 

Women's Individual 

In the women's Triathlon, Austrian Kate ALLEN 

snatched the gold medal in a spectacular 

fashion, propelling herself into the lead for the 

first time in the race in the finish chute, inside 

the last few hundred metres of the race. 

Starting the 10km run 2:48 behind the leaders, 

35-year-old ALLEN was unstoppable, posting 

the fastest run split of 34:13.00, and charging 

past ten other competitors on her way to the 

finish line at the Vouliagmeni Olympic Centre. 

The Austrian's surge to the line relegated 

Loretta HARROP to second place by 6.72 

seconds, after the Australian had led the 50strong 

field from the water after the 1.500m 

swim. HARROP headed the field from the 

moment she exited T1, the swim to bike 

Men 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

CARTER Hamish 

DOCHERTY Bevan 

RIEDERER Sven 

BENNETT Greg 

BELAUBRE Frederic 

RAELERT Andreas 

HENNING Rasmus 

MARCEAU Olivier 

NOC 

NZL 

NZL 

SUI 

AUS 

FRA 

GER 

DEN 

SUI 

Time 

1:51:07.73 

1:51:15.60 

1:51:33.26 

1:51:41.58 

1:52:00.53 

1:52:35.62 

1:52:37.32 

1:52:44.36 

transition, working first with American Sheila 

TAORMINA during the 40km cycle leg, and 

then building and sustaining a 30-second lead 

until the final 2km of the 10km run leg. With air 

temperatures hovering around 30 degrees 

Celsius, early race conditions for the 10:00 start 

time were mild for competitors, with only light 

breezes affecting the open water swim leg. 

A small group of nine swimmers, including 

HARROR Barbara LINDQUIST (USA), 

TAORMINA, Rina HILL (AUS), Jill SAVEGE 

(CAN), Silvia GEMIGNANI (ITA), Joelle 

FRANZMANN (GER), Jodie SWALLOW 

(GBR) and Susan WILLIAMS (USA) broke away 

rounding the final swim buoy, but HARROP left 

the water first and soon attacked the 700 

metre hill on lap one of the cycle leg, dragging 

the American trio with her. With WILLIAMS 

crashing after the first climb, a two-woman 

breakaway formed, after LINDQUIST also 

dropped off the pace, leaving HARROP and 

TAORMINA out in front. At one stage during 

the third lap of five, the race leaders had 

extended their lead to 48 seconds over the 

chasing pair of Americans, with a further 2:25 

back to the main group of riders. In laps three, 

four and five, Belgian cycle specialist Kathleen 

SMET attempted to bridge the gap between 

the main pack and WILLIAMS and LINDQUIST 

getting to within 9 seconds on lap three, before 

losing ground. On lap four of the five-lap bike 

leg, TAORMINA dramatically dropped back to 

her pursuing team mates, leaving HARROP to 

enter T2 on her own with a slender 15-second 

lead. HARROP flew out of T2 to a commanding 

lead of around 30 seconds, pushing hard up the 

slight inclines to stay ahead of WILLIAMS, who 

had smoothly moved into second place halfway 

through the run. With LINDQUIST fading and 

TAORMINA falling off the pace set by 

WILLIAMS, HARROP's lead with 4km to go 

looked unassailable, until the flying Austrian 

ALLEN rocketed past the crowd going into final 

3.3 km lap, having picked up just over two and a 

half minutes in the first two run loops. In a 

thrilling conclusion, ALLEN eventually passed a 

tiring HARROP on the long final downhill with 

the finish line in sight, crossing in 2:04:43.45 to 

the Australian's 2:04:50.17. On a day when an 

American triathlete was never far from the lead, 

WILLIAMS (2:05:08.92) managed to hang on to 

the bronze medal position in front of SMET 

(2:05.35.89), and a charging Nadia CORTASSA 

(ITA), who posted the second fastest run split. 

LINDQUIST finished ninth, while TAORMINA 

faded to 23rd position in the final lap of the run. 

Forty-four out of the 50 women who started 

the tough Vouliagmeni course finished within 

2:22:39.28. 

Women 

Name 

Gold ALLEN Kate 

Silver HARROP Loretta 

Bronze WILLIAMS Susan 

4th SMET Kathleen 

5th CORTASSA Nadia 

6th DILLON Michelle 

7th BURGOS Ana 

8th FERNANDES Vanessa 

NOC 

AUT 

AUS 

USA 

BEL 

ITA 

GBR 

ESP 

POR 

Time 

2:04:43.45 

2:04:50.17 

2:05:08.92 

2:05:35.89 

2:05:45.35 

2:06:00.77 

2:06:02.36 

2:06:15.39

This page: 

Competitors of the men's triathlon 

swim on 26 August. New Zealand's 

Hamish Carter won the gold 

medal, his compatriot Bevan 

Docherty received silver and 

Switzerland's Sven Riederer took 

bronze. 

© AFP/T. Coex 


Left page: 

Mark Williams (playing partner of 

Julien Prosser) of Australia dives 

for the ball during their match 

against Patrick Heuscher and 

Stephan Kobel of Switzerland in 

the men's bronze medal match. 

Switzerland won 19-21, 21-17, 15-13. 

© Getty Images/R. Laberge 

Beach Volleyball 


Olympic Beach Volleyball was hosted from 14 until 25 August. 

Wed Thu 

11 

12 

Fr 

13 

Sat 

14 

Sun 

15 

Mon Tue Wed Thu 

Beach Volleyball is a high-standard discipline 

that takes place in a unique setting. Games take 

place on some of the most beautiful beaches of 

the world, or in the historic centres of wellknown 

cities. The atmosphere created by the 

combination of music, rhythm and beat during a 

Beach Volleyball game has made the sport very 

popular 

Description 

Beach Volleyball is played on sand courts 

measuring 16m x 8m by teams of two athletes. 

The net divides the court into two equal 

sections, each of which constitutes one team's 

court. The objective of the sport is to pass the 

ball over the net, touching the opponent's 

court, while avoiding a corresponding action by 

the opposing team. The match begins with the 

serve that is hitting the ball with the aim of 

passing it over the net to the opposing team. 

Each play continues until the ball "lands" on the 

ground within or outside the boundaries of the 

court, or when the opposing team fails to 

return the ball legally. Each team is allowed to hit 

the ball up to three times, including contact 

during an attempted block on the ball, before 

returning it to the opposing team. In Beach 

Volleyball, each team that wins a rally also wins a 

point, regardless of which team has served. 

Within each team, players execute the service 

in turn. A match consists of the best three sets, 

which are won, when a team gets to 21 points 

with a lead of at least two points over the 

opposing team. Otherwise the set continues, 

until one of the two teams takes a two-point 

lead and is declared winner of the set. The 

winner of the match is the team that wins 

two sets. There are men's and women's 

tournaments both having the same format 

and rules. The Olympic Beach Volleyball 

competition comprises a Preliminary Round, 

16 

17 

18 

19 

Fr 

20 


21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

Fr 

27 

Sat 

28 

and a Single Elimination Phase, for both Men 

and Women. 

Men's tournament 

Women's tournament 


Event 

Men 

Women 

Venue 

Players 

48 

48 

Total: 2 

NOC 

17 

17 

Sun 

The Beach Volleyball tournament was held in 

the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre in Faliro, 

a new court with 9.600 seating capacity. The 

fascinating sport became a dominant spectacle 

in the warm and sandy environment of South 

Attica, at the Faliro Coastal Zone. 


Women's 

Since Beach Volleyball was introduced to the 

Games, in 1996, the podium has been 

dominated by Brazil and Australia. This time 

around, however at the Women's Olympic 

Beach Volleyball Tournament of ATHENS 2004, 

the two participating USA teams brought 

home the gold and the bronze. Kerri WALSH 

and Misty MAY were the top seeds and strong 

favourites coming into the Olympic 

tournament, shutting out Brazil's Adriana 

BEHAR/Shelda BEDE, the Sydney 2000 and 

2003 World Championship silver medallists, 

to add the Olympic gold to their already 

impressive collection of titles in the last three 

years. WALSH and MAY were joined on the 

podium by Holly McPEAK and Elaine 

YOUNGS, defeating Australia's Natalie COOK 

29 


Right page: 

USA's Kerri Walsh and Misty May 

celebrate defeating Adriana Behar 

and Shelda Bede of Brazil in the 

women's gold medal match. 

USA won 21-17, 21-11. 

© Getty Images/J. Ferrey 

418 


and Nicole SANDERSON 2-1, in one hour 

eleven minutes match -the longest of the 

tournament - to win the bronze, the other USA 

medal. But their victory in the bronze medal 

match not only capped a brilliant USA presence 

in the Women's Olympic Beach Volleyball 

Tournament, but also left Australia without a 

medal for the first time ever Europe, 

meanwhile, will have to wait for Beijing 2008 to 

see if it can get its first team ever in the final four 

There were two European teams vying for 

semi-final berths this year, but both fell in the 

quarter-finals. Germany's 2003 European 

Champions, Stephanie POHL/Okka RAU, to 

McPEAK/YOUNGS; and Italy's 2003 and 2004 

European Championships bronze medallists, 

Lucilla PERROTTA and Daniela GATTELLl, to 

COOK/SANDERSON. Brazil's Ana Paula 

CONNELLY and Sandra PIRES, the 

tournament's number three seeds, were also 

casualties of the quarter-final round, when they 

lost an all-Brazilian duel with Adriana BEHAR/ 

Shelda BEDE. For the hosts, a Round of 16 

berths escaped them in Sydney 2000, when 

Vasso KARADASSIOU and Efi SFYRI failed to 

get in by one single point. ATHENS 2004, 

however; saw Greece represented by two 

teams in the Single Elimination Bracket. 

KARADASSIOU/SFYRI were joined by 

Greece's new hopefuls, Thalia 

KOUTROUMANIDOU and Vicky ARVANITI, 

the youngest team in the tournament. 

Men's 

Since the sport was integrated into the Games, 

in 1996, the USA has dominated the men's 

competition. However; in the men's 

tournament, for the first time ever; Brazil's men 

climbed to the highest step of the podium in 

Olympic Beach Volleyball. Ricardo SANTOS 

and Emanuel REGO shut out Spain's surprise 

finalists Javier BOSMA and Pablo HERRERA to 

Men 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

Name 

SANTOS Ricardo Alex 

REGO Emanuel 

BOSMA Javier 

HERRERA Pablo 

KOBEL Stefan 

HEUSCHER Patrick 

PROSSER Julien 

WILLIAMS Mark 

CHILD John 

HEESE Mark 

SCHEUERPFLUG Andreas 

DIECKMANN Christoph 

HOLDREN Daxton 

METZGER Stein 

LACIGA Paul 

LACIGA Martin 

NOC 

BRA 

ESP 

SUI 

AUS 

CAN 

GER 

USA 

SUI 

win the gold medal of the Men's 2004 Olympic 

Beach Volleyball Tournament. It was a moment 

the country had been waiting for eight years, 

and the few hundred Brazilian fans who were 

there to witness it will cherish it for ever 

But it was not only the Olympic top seeds and 

reigning world champions that made history at 

the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre. Fifteenth 

seeded Spain has become the highest-ranked 

European team even bettering the bronze 

medal won by Germany's Joerg AH MANN and 

Axel HAGER in Sydney. There was a second 

European team on the podium. Switzerland's 

Patrick HEUSCHER and Stefan KOBEL edged 

Australia's Julien PROSSER and Mark 

WILLIAMS winning the bronze medal and 

confirming the continent's increasing pressure 

on the North and South American dominance 

of the sport. Meanwhile, the USA, that had 

never before lost the gold medal, winning with 

Karen KIRALY/Kent STEFFES in Atlanta 1996 

and with BLANTON/FOINOIMOANA in 

Sydney 2000, failed miserably to uphold the 

tradition. The pair lost all three of their opening 

matches, and ranked last in their Preliminary 

Pool. There was some history for the 

Australians, too. PROSSER and WILLIAMS 

became the first Australian men to feature 

amongst the top four of an Olympic 

tournament. But more than anything else, the 

Athens Olympic Games proved how different 

an Olympic competition is compared to the 

regular World Tour events. Of the top four 

seeds of the Olympic tournament, only Ricardo 

SANTOS/Emanuel REGO kept their seeds. 

The others (second-seeded Benjamin 

INSFRAN/Marcio ARAUJO of Brazil, ranked 

9th; third-seeded Martin LACIGA and Paul 

LACIGA of Switzerland, ranked 5th; and fourthseeded 

Markus DIECKMANN/Jonas 

RECKERMANN of Germany ranked 9th) 

finished below par. 

Women 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

Name 

WALSH Kerri 

MAY Misty 

BEHAR Adriana 

BEDE Shelda 

McPEAK Holly 

YOUNGS Elaine 

COOK Natalie 

SANDERSON Nicole 

DUMONT Guylaine 

MARTIN Annie 

PERROTTA Lucilla 

GATTELLI Daniela 

POHL Stephanie 

RAU Okka 

CONNELLY Ana Paula 

PIRES Sandra 

NOC 

USA 

BRA 

USA 

AUS 

CAN 

ITA 

GER 

BRA

Left page: 

Erik Sullivan #5 of the United 

States spikes the ball against 

Russia during the men's indoor 

Volleyball bronze medal match. 

Russia won 3-0. 

© Getty Images/A. Pretty 

Volleyball 


The Olympic Volleyball competition was conducted over the full 16-day programme of the Olympic 

Games (14 to 29 August). 


11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 

Volleyball, like Basketball, is a sport, whose origin 

is known almost to the day. Oddly enough, both 

sports were invented at the same college and 

within a few years of one another William 

G. Morgan, a student of the YMCA at Holyoke, 

Massachusetts, invented Volleyball in 1895. 

The game was originally called "Mintonette". 

Volleyball quickly spread around the world and 

became popular. The International Volleyball 

Federation (Federation Internationale de 

Volleyball - FIVB) was founded in Paris in 1947, 

where the first regulations were also 

formulated. The sport continued to grow, and in 

1964 made its Olympic Games debut in Tokyo, 

without it first been contested as a 

demonstration sport, with the Soviet Union 

winning the men's gold medal, and the Japanese 

women being crowned champions in front of 

their home crowd. Since then, Volleyball has 

continued to witness the rise and fall of great 

international teams with countries such diverse 

as Cuba, Brazil, the former Soviet Union, China, 

United States, Netherlands, Poland and Japan 

collecting gold medals. Today, Volleyball is one 

of the big five international sports, and the FIVB, 

with 218 affiliated member National 

Federations, is the largest International Sporting 

Federation in the world. 

Description 

Volleyball matches are played between two 

teams - each team consisting of six field players 

and six substitutes. The court is rectangular 

measuring I8x9m, while a net divides the court 

into two equal parts, two "team courts". Each 

team aims at having the ball pass over the net 

and touch the ground of the opposing team, 

whilst at the same time avoiding such plays by 

the opposing team. The team has three hits for 

returning the ball. The ball is put in play with a 

service hit by the server over the net to the 

opponents. A match consists of three to five 

sets, as the winner is the first team to win three 

sets. The match is called by two referees, aided 

by the scorekeeper and the line judges (two to 

four depending on the level of the match). 

Men's tournament with 12 teams 

Total: 2 

Women's tournament with 12 teams 


Event 

Men 

Women 

Players 

144 

144 

NOC 

12 

12 

The Peace and Friendship Stadium, which is 

situated on the coast of Faliro in the south of 

Athens very close to the port of Piraeus, has a 

distinct modern architectural style. The stadium 

enjoyed international prestige and an enviable 

reputation, having been used as a venue for 

important European and international sport 

championships, as well as professional and 

commercial fairs. Its renovation had been 

undertaken by the General Secretariat of 

Sports (GSS) and resulted in a 13.200 seated 

capacity stadium. 


Men's Tournament 

Brazil was the Athens Olympic champion, 

after their amazing 3-1 win over Italy in the gold 

medal match at the Peace and Friendship 

Stadium. 

Russia also stepped on to the podium, beating 

the United States in the bronze medal match. 


Right page: 

Ping Zhang of China goes up 

against Lioubov Shashkova of 

Russia in the women's indoor 

Volleyball gold medal match. 

China won 3-2. 

© Getty Images/R. Laberge 

422 

Brazil and Italy's game was a high-level spectacle. 

The world champions delivered on their 

excellent record against Italy and beat them in 

four sets, 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-20, 25-22). Brazil 

is now the Olympic gold medallists, world 

champions, world league and world cup 

holders. Their supremacy was clearly underlined 

throughout the Athens Olympic Games 

tournament. Italy's credentials going into the 

2004 Olympic Games were also strong. Bronze 

medallists in Sydney 2000, they were world 

champions in 1990, 1994 and 1998. Gilberto 

GODOY FILHO of Brazil was voted by the 

accredited Media as the Most Valuable Player of 

the Athens Olympic Volleyball Tournament. 

The 28-year-old dynamic wing spiker, better 

known as "Giba", finished the competition, as 

the third best scorer with 126 points, and fourth 

best spiker, as he was one of the leading figures 

in Brazil's gold-medal-winning performance. 

GODOY FILHO's teammate Sergio Dutra 

SANTOS (BRA) was voted by far the best 

libero at the Tournament. SANTOS had been 

the best digger in the competition averaging 

1.87 successful digs per set and also the best 

receiver Italian Andrea SARTORETTI and 

Lloyd BALL of the United States followed 

GODOY FILHO. Russia won the bronze medal 

running past the United States in straight sets, 

3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-l6). This was Russia's 

second consecutive Olympic medal after 

winning the silver medal in Sydney. 

Men 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 


Team 

Brazil 

Italy 

Russian Federation 


Greece 

Poland 

Serbia & Montenegro 

Argentina 

NOC 

BRA 

ITA 

RUS 

USA 

GRE 

POL 

SCG 

ARG 

KULESHOV, TETYUKHIN and BARANOV top 

scored for the winners with 16,13 and 12 points 

respectively, while the USA led by Clayton 

STANLEY who was the only USA player in 

double figures with 13 points. 

Women's Tournament 

In the women's tournament, China celebrated 

the Athens Olympic Volleyball gold medal after 

defeating Russia. The two teams have won the 

last two Olympic silver medals. China achieved 

second place at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic 

Games, while Russia were the runners-up at the 

Sydney Olympic Games. Russia had an exciting 

semi-final win over Brazil in a final set tiebreaker 

despite trailing at one stage by two sets to nil. 

Russia boasted the top two scorers of the 

competition, in Ekaterina GAMOVA and 

Lioubov SHASHKOVA, and was also the best 

team in the scoring blockers. China was the best 

team in terms of statistics. Hao YANG was the 

fourth highest scorer of the tournament, while 

Ping ZHANG was top of the spiking efficiency 

rankings and Lina WANG was top of the 

scoring servers rankings. China's morale was 

also high, as in the semi-finals they were the 

team that put an end to Cuba's 12-year 

dominance of the Olympic tournaments. 

Cuba finished third, winning the bronze medal 

in the women's competition. 

Women 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

5th 

Team 

People's Republic of China 

Russian Federation 

Cuba 

Brazil 

Italy 

Japan 

Korea 


NOC 

CHN 

RUS 

CUB 

BRA 

ITA 

JPN 

KOR 

USA

Left page: 

Pyrros Dimas of Greece receives 

the bronze medal for the men's 

85kg category weightlifting eventand 

a standing ovation by a 

capacity crowd. This was the fourth 

medal in as many Games for 

Dimas, who won consecutive gold 

medals in Barcelona (1992), Atlanta 

(1996), Sydney (2000). 

© Getty Images/A. Bello 

Weightlifting 


Olympic Weightlifting competition schedule was run through ten competition days, from 14 to 25 

August, with rest days on 17 August and 22 August. 


11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 

Weightlifting has been popular since ancient 

times, and is also regarded as one of the oldest 

Olympic sports. It was included at the first 

Modern Olympic Games, during which six 

competitors from five nations participated, 

including Greek competitors. A Greek 

participant, Sotiris Versis, came third in the 

100kg two-hands event, which was finally won 

by a Dane, Viggo Jensen, who lifted 111,5kg. At 

the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the sport 

celebrated its 21st appearance in the Olympic 

programme, whereas women's weightlifting was 

also introduced. The International Weightlifting 

Federation (IWF) was founded in 1905. 

Description 

Weightlifting has been described as the sport of 

the strong, since the winner is the competitor; 

who lifts the highest number of kilos. However, 

an athlete's strength almost always needs to be 

backed by proper technique and the guidance 

of a good coach to achieve the best results. 

Weightlifting consists of two movements 

executed in the following order: a) the snatch, 

where the athlete raises the bar over the head 

in a single movement with outstretched arms 

and b) the clean & jerk, which is divided in two 

parts. In the first, the athlete lifts the bar to 

shoulder level and momentarily holds the 

position. In the second, the athlete raises the bar 

over the head and keeps it there until the 

referees' signal to drop it. Only three attempts 

are allowed for each movement, and at least 

two of the three referees must be in agreement 

for the athlete to qualify. The Olympic 

Weightlifting tournament has a total of 15 

categories, and there are both men's and 

women's events. Weightlifters competed in the 

following weight categories according to their 

body weight: 

Men's Categories: 8 

Women's Categories: 7 

Competitors 

Event 

Men 

56kg 

62kg 

69kg 

77kg 

85kg 

94kg 

105kg 

+I05kg 

Women 

48kg 

53kg 

58kg 

63kg 

69kg 

75kg 

+75kg 

Venue 

Weightlifters 

18 

20 

19 

25 

21 

27 

23 

18 

15 

8 

14 

11 

10 

17 

13 

Total: 15 

NOC 

15 

18 

18 

22 

19 

20 

19 

16 

14 

8 

12 

9 

10 

16 

12 

During the ATHENS 2004 Games, Weightlifting 

was held in the Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting 

Hall. Since Weightlifting is very popular in 

Greece, the Hall, which had a total capacity of 

3.500 seats, was one of the first projects that 

were planned and supported by the General 

Secretariat of Sports for the 2004 Olympic 

Games. The venue extended over 8.000sq.m. 

and had supplementary areas for warming up, 

resting, changing, training, hygiene-medical care 

and accommodation, as well as additional areas 

for security, media, spectator services and 

recreation. 


Right page: 

Dominican Republic's Wanda Rijo 

kisses the weight after her lift 

during the women's 75kg 

weightlifting category. Rijo placed 

tenth in the final rankings. 

© REUTERS/A. Comas 

426 

Games Highlights Men's Events 

Weightlifting at the ATHENS 2004 Olympic 

Games had its moments of greatness, moments 

of despair and, not for the first time, moments 

of shame. Records tumbled, personal 

milestones were achieved, and China with five 

gold and three silver medals gave notice that it 

is poised to become a superpower in the sport. 

Altogether, 47 world and Olympic records 

were broken during the 10 days of competition, 

including an incredible 18 in one event-the 

women's 69kg. The moment of shame was 

when the International Weightlifting Federation 

(IWF) issued a press release on 18 August 

announcing that five competitors had been 

suspended for failing drug tests carried out 

before the start of competition, whereas more 

bans were to follow once the competitions 

started. Speaking at a news conference, the IWF 

President, Dr Tamas AJAN of Hungary, vowed 

to continue his 30-year fight against drugs in 

sport, adding that his federation was a leader in 

doping control. An emotional Dr AJAN 

summed up his reaction to the suspensions by 

saying: "One of my eyes is smiling at the good 

competition, the presence of 261 athletes from 

79 countries, the excellent facilities at the Nikaia 

Olympic Weightlifting Hall and the Olympic 

spirit here. The other eye is crying because of 

the drug taking". 

Men's 56kg 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 


Name 

MUTLU Halil 

WU Meijin 

ARTUC Sedat 

DZERBIANIOU Vitali 

FIGUEROA Oscar Albeiro 

JIGAU Adrian loan 

TANCSICS Laszlo 

SETIADI Jadi 

NOC 

TUR 

CHN 

TUR 

BLR 

COL 

ROM 

HUN 

INA 

Score 

295.0 

287.5 

280.0 

280.0 

280.0 

275.0 

272.5 

262.5 

Men's 56kg 

Turkey's Halil MUTLU, whose name in Turkish 

means "happy", became only the fourth man in 

weightlifting history to win three consecutive 

gold medals, joining his idol Naim 

SULEYMANOGLU (TUR) and the two Greeks 

Pyrros DIMAS and Akakios KAKIASVILIS. 

China's Meijin WU, who had the same entry 

total as the Turk (390kg), though MUTLU had a 

personal best over WU of 30kg, won the silver 

The bronze was awarded to another Turkish 

athlete Sedat ARTUC, European Champion in 

Ukraine. The 35-year-old Romanian Adrian 

JIGAU was considered one of the most 

experienced athletes in this category and did 

not cause a surprise; he ended sixth. 

Men's 62kg 

In the men's 62kg category, two Chinese 

athletes won the first and second place. 

Zhiyong SHI took the gold, whereas Maosheng 

LE, fourth in Sydney, the silver LE and SHI were 

the world record holders in snatch and in clean 

and jerk respectively. The bronze was awarded 

to Israel Jose RUBIO (VEN). The 33-year-old 

Leonidas SAMPANIS (GRE), who won the silver 

medal in Atlanta and again in Sydney, missed his 

opportunity to win a medal in the ATHENS 

2004 Games. 

Men's 62kg 

Name 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

SHI Zhiyong 

LE Maosheng 

RUBIO Israel Jose 

GHAZARYAN Armen 

JUNIANTO Gustar 

NDICKA Samson 

BAZARBAYEV Umurbek 

SUNARTO Sunarto 

NOC 

CHN 

CHN 

VEN 

ARM 

INA 

FRA 

TKM 

INA 

Score 

325.0 

312.5 

295.0 

295.0 

292.5 

287.5 

287.5 

285.0

428 

Men's 69kg 

In the men's 69kg, Guozheng ZHANG (CHN), 

first in the World Championships and holder of 

the world record in clean and jerk (197,5kg), 

won the gold medal. Korea's Bae Young LEE, 

who appeared to be a threat to ZHANG, as he 

had a very high entry total (345kg), took the 

silver Turan MIRZAYEV (AZE), the best 

weightlifter in his country and third in 

Vancouver came fourth. ZHANG, LEE and 

MIPZAYEF competed in the same category in 

Sydney, but were far from the medals. Nikolay 

PECHALOV from Croatia took the bronze. 

Siarhei LAURENAU (BLR), who was third in 

2000, ended sixth in the ATHENS 2004 Games. 

Bulgaria's Galabin BOEVSKI and Georgi 

MARKOV, winners of the gold and silver 

medals in Sydney, were the major absentees as 

they served lengthy bans for violating antidoping 

rules. 

Men's 77kg 

Turkey's Taner SAGIR broke two Olympic 

records to win the Men's 77kg class and his 

country's third gold medal of the competition. 

The 19-year-old set records in the snatch 

(172kg) and the total (375kg) to finish ahead of 

two world record holders, Sergey FILIMONOV 

(KAZ) and Russia's Oleg PEREPET CHENOV, 

who took the silver and bronze medals. SAGIR, 

the current European champion, also improved 

on his three junior world records. The shock of 

the event was the failure of double Olympic 

Champion Xugang ZHAN of China to finish 

after failing all three snatch attempts. Greece's 

Viktor MITROU, silver medallist in Sydney to 

ZHAN, finished fifth on bodyweight diffference 

behind Turkey's Reyhan ARABACIOGLU. 

Men's 69kg 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 


8th 

Name 

ZHANG Guozheng 

LEE Bae Young 

PECHALOV Nikolay 

MIRZAYEV Turan 

DABAYA TIENTCHEU 

Vencelas 

LAURENAU Siarhei 

ERNAULT Romuald 

PETER Yukio 

NOC 

CHN 

KOR 

CRO 

AZE 

CMR 

BLR 

FRA 

NRU 

Men's 85kg 

Name 

NOC 

Gold ASANIDZE George GEO 

Silver RYBAKOU Andrei BLR 

Bronze DIMAS Pyrros 

GRE 

4th MARKOULAS Georgios GRE 

5th YUAN Aijun 

CHN 

6th ANISHCHANKA Aliaksandr BLR 

7th MARTI ROSYAN Tigran ARM 

8th SONG Jong Shik 

KOR 

Score 

347.5 

342.5 

337.5 

332.5 

327.5 

317.5 

307.5 

302.5 

Score 

382.5 

380.0 

377.5 

372.5 

372.5 

370.0 

367.5 

360.0 

Men's 85kg 

Greece's Pyrros DIMAS missed out on his 

fourth consecutive gold medal, but won bronze, 

and now has four medals from four Olympic 

Games, a feat achieved by only three other 

weightlifters - Norbert SCHEMANSKY (USA), 

Ronny WELLER (GER) and Nikolay 

PECHALOV of Croatia, who had joined the 

elite group only three days earlier, when he 

won bronze in the men's 69kg. In 2000, three 

athletes lifted the same weight (390kg), but the 

Greek won gold on bodyweight difference 

from Mark HUSTER (GER), now a television 

commentator, and George ASANIDZE (GEO). 

This time it was ASANIDZE who won the gold, 

lifting 382,5kg. The silver went to Andrei 

RYBAKOU from Belarus with 380kg. The 

22-year-old Georgios MARKOULAS, seen as 

Greece's successor to DIMAS, as he has won 

silver in the Clean and Jerk in Kiev's European 

Championships, ended fourth. Though Aijun 

YUAN (CHN) was a strong contester, having 

won silver in the world championships in 

Vancouver last November; he managed to win 

the fifth place. 

Men's 94kg 

There was despair in the men's 94kg category, 

when Akakios KAKIASVILIS (GRE), defending 

his Olympic title and seeking his fourth 

consecutive gold medal, failed five of his six lifts 

and did not finish. At 35, he is unlikely to be seen 

again in top-level competition, despite an 

emotional post-event interview, in which he 

said he would continue competing, and might 

even be a candidate for Beijing. His main 

opponent, the 24-year-old Milen DOBREV 

(BUL), the current world and European 

champion won the gold, lifting 407,5kg. 

The 19-year-old Khadjimourad AKKAEV (RUS) 

rose to the occasion and won the silver 

The bronze was awarded to Eduard TJUKIN, 

Russia's second competitor. 

Men's 77kg 

Name 

Gold SAGIR Taner 

Silver FILIMONOV Sergey 

Bronze PEREPETCHENOV 

Oleg 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

ARABACIOGLU 

Reyhan 

MITROU Viktor 

BARKHAH 

Mohammad Hossein 

FERI Attila 

STOITSOV Ivan 

Men's 94kg 

Name 

Gold DOBREV Milen 

Silver AKKAEV Khadjimourad 

Bronze TJUKIN Eduard 

4th NASIRINIA Shahin 

5th LUNA Julio 

6th YILMAZ Hakan 

7th AKHMETOV Bakhyt 

8th MUSHYK Anatoliy 

NOC 

TUR 

KAZ 

RUS 

TUR 

GRE 

IRI 

HUN 

BUL 

Score 

375.0 

372.5 

365.0 

360.0 

360.0 

357.5 

355.0 

355.0 

NOC Score 

BUL 

RUS 

RUS 

IRI 

VEN 

TUR 

KAZ 

UKR 

407.5 

405.0 

397.5 

392.5 

390.0 

390.0 

390.0 

387.5

Men's 105kg 

Russia's Dmitry BERESTOV, who was runnerup 

in this year's European Championship to 

Alan TSAGAEV (BUL) who did not compete 

in Athens, won the gold in the men's 105kg 

category. The Ukraine's 34-year-old Igor 

RAZORONOV, twice a world champion in the 

1990s who finished fourth in Sydney, won the 

silver. The bronze was awarded to another 

Russian, Gleb PISAREVSKIY who was 

considered to be very strong in the clean and 

jerk. Alexandru BRATAN (MDA), who turned 

27 on that day, and was placed third in Kiev's 

European Championships, behind TSAGAEV 

and BERESTOV, ended fourth. 

Men's + 105kg 

In the final event of the competition, Hossein 

REZA ZADEH (IRI) -the 160kg giant, 

recognised as the world's strongest man - set 

new world and Olympic records in the super 

heavyweight clean and jerk to give Iran its first 

gold medal of the tournament and his second 

consecutive gold. Latvia's Viktors SCERBATIHS 

gave a solid display and was placed second with 

455kg, giving his country its first medal in 

Weightlifting at the Olympic tournament. 

The 22-year-old Velichko CHOLAKOV (BUL) 

won the bronze medal with 447,5kg while 

Ukrainian Gennadiy KRASILNIKOV was placed 

fourth with 440kg lifted while competing in 

Group B earlier in the day. German veteran 

Ronny WELLER, competing in a record fifth 

Olympic Games, retired with a shoulder injury 

after his second attempt in snatch. The injury 

robbed him of the chance of being the first 

weightlifter to win five consecutive Olympic 

medals. Armenia's hopes of an Olympic medal 

in weightlifting vanished when Ashot 

DANIELYAN failed to finish after missing his 

three snatch attempts at 200kg. 

Men's 105kg 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

5th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

BERESTOV Dmitry 

RAZORONOV Igor 

PISAREVSKIY Gleb 

BRATAN Alexandru 

VYSNIAUSKAS Ramunas 

NANIYEV AIan 

STEINER Matthias 

URINOV Alexander 

Women's 48kg 

Name 

Gold TAYLAN Nurcan 

Silver LI Zhuo 

Bronze WIRATTHAWORN Aree 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

NOC 

RUS 

UKR 

RUS 

MDA 

LTU 

AZE 

AUT 

UZB 

NOC 

TUR 

CHN 

THA 

KUNJARANI Namecrakpam IND 

DRAGNEVA Izabela BUL 

CHEN Han Tung 

TPE 

UDOH Blessed 

NGR 

CHOE Un Sim 

PRK 

Score 

425.0 

420.0 

415.0 

415.0 

410.0 

410.0 

405.0 

400.0 

Score 

210.0 

205.0 

200.0 

190.0 

187.5 

182.5 

180.0 

177.5 


Women's 48kg 

The 20-year-old Nurcan TAYLAN set a world 

and Olympic record in the women's flyweight 

48kg, and became Turkey's first female Olympic 

gold medallist. The young Turkish star broke the 

world record three times - in the snatch with 

lifts of 95kg and 97,5kg and with a total of 210kg 

-to grab victory in a thrilling finish from China's 

Zhuo LI. LI was second lifting 205kg. She missed 

twice attempting 120kg in the clean and jerk 

which would have given her the gold medal and 

the world record. Thailand's Aree 

WIRATTHAWORN won the bronze medal 

with a total of 200kg, including a new Olympic 

record of 115kg in the clean and jerk. Sydney 

gold medallist Tara CUNNINGHAM (USA) 

finished well behind in 11th position with a total 

of 172,5kg. lzabela DRAGNEVA (BUL), who was 

disqualified in Sydney after finishing first, took 

fifth place on that night with a total of 187,5kg in 

what was reported to be her farewell to 

competitive Weightlifting. 

Women's 53kg 

Thailand's Udompom POLSAK became the 

first woman to win an Olympic gold medal for 

her country in the featherweight 53kg class, 

sparking off celebrations in the Thai capital 

Bangkok. Raema Lisa RUMBEWAS, a silver 

medallist in Sydney in the 48kg class, repeated 

her victory in the ATHENS 2004 competition, 

and became the first Indonesian athlete to win a 

medal in successive Olympic Games. The 

bronze was awarded to Mabel MOSQUERA 

(COL), who lifted 197,5kg. Romania's Marioara 

MUNTEANU, who won the silver in the 2004 

European championships, and Nastassia 

NOVIKAVA (BLR), who won the third place 

and was also eighth in Sydney, ended fourth and 

fifth, respectively. Dika TOUA (PNG), who was 

10th in Sydney in the 48kg class, and had the 

honour of being the first female competitor to 

lift weights in the Olympic Games, improved her 

position by winning the sixth place. 

Men's +105kg 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

REZA ZADEH Hossein 

SCERBATIHS Viktors 

CHOLAKOV Velichko 

KRASILNIKOV Gennadiy 

KOLOKOLTSEV OIeksiy 

NAJDEK Pawel 

HAMMAN Shane 

AN Yong Kwon 

Women's 53kg 

Name 

Gold POLSAK Udompom 

Silver RUMBEWAS Raema Lisa 

Bronze MOSQUERA Mabel 

4th MUNTEANU Marioara 

5th NOVIKAVA Nastassia 

6th TOUA Dika 

7th LACHAUME Virginie 

NOC 

IRI 

LAT 

BUL 

UKR 

UKR 

POL 

USA 

KOR 

NOC 

THA 

INA 

COL 

ROM 

BLR 

PNG 

FRA 

Score 

472.5 

455.0 

447.5 

440.0 

437.5 

430.0 

430.0 

427.5 

Score 

222.5 

210.0 

197.5 

190.0 

190.0 

177.5 

175.0 


430 


Women's 58kg 

A close contest was assured in the Women's 

58kg class with nine of the 14 competitors 

having won one or more medals in World 

Championships. Yanqing CHEN, representing 

China, the dominant nation in women's 

weightlifting won the gold. Song Hui RI (PRK), 

silver medallist in Sydney in the 53kg class, who 

also has been a world champion three times, 

won the silver again and confirmed her 

reputation as the athlete who has never 

dropped below second place in a major 

competition. Wandee KAMEAIM (THA) won 

the bronze. Young Aleksandra KLEJNOWSKA 

(POL) holder of the European records in clean 

and jerk and in total, ended fifth, behind Aylin 

DASDELEN (TUR), one of the strongest 

European contesters. Alexandra ESCOBAR 

(ECU), the bestweightlifter in her country, 

ended seventh, whereas Indonesia's 

PATMAWATI, who has won three bronze 

medals in the Vancouver World 

Championships (2003), was ranked eighth. 

Women's 63 kg 

In women's 63kg, the gold was won by Nataliya 

SKAKUN (UKR), holder of the world record in 

clean and jerk and world champion last 

November in Vancouver, whereas Hanna 

BATSIUSHKA (BLR), another strong 

competitor and holder of the world record in 

snatch, rose to the occasion and took the silver 

The bronze was awarded again to Belarus with 

Tatsiana STUKALAVA, who lifted 222,5 kg. 

Women's 69kg 

Chinese teenager Chunhong LIU rewrote the 

women's record books with a performance 

hailed as one of the greatest in the sport. 

Women's 58kg 

Name 

Gold CHEN Yanqing 

Silver Rl Song Hui 

Bronze KAMEAIM Wandee 

4th DASDELEN Aylin 

5th KLEJNOWSKA Aleksandra 

6th PAK Hyon Suk 

7th ESCOBAR AIexandra 

8th PATMAWATI Patmawati 

Women's 69kg 

Name 

Gold LIU Chunhong 

Silver KRUTZLER Eszter 

Bronze KASAEVA Zarema 

4th RUZHINSKA SIaveyka 

5th MASLOVSKA Vanda 

6th TRENDAFILOVA Milena 

7th YAMECHI Madeleine 

8th VALOYES Ubaldina 

NOC 

CHN 

PRK 

THA 

TUR 

POL 

PRK 

ECU 

INA 

NOC 

CHN 

HUN 

RUS 

BUL 

UKR 

BUL 

CMR 

COL 

Score 

237.5 

232.5 

230.0 

225.0 

220.0 

217.5 

215.0 

212.5 

Score 

275.0 

262.5 

262.5 

250.0 

245.0 

237.5 

235.0 

232.5 

She broke records with each of her five lifts and 

ended the event holding all six World and 

Olympic records in the light heavyweight 69kg 

class for snatch, clean and jerk, and total. As she 

is only 19, she also holds all three junior World 

records. Eszter KRUTZLER (HUN) and Zarema 

KASAEVA (RUS) were awarded with the silver 

and bronze, respectively. A total of 18 records 

were broken in the event. 

Women's 75kg 

POLSAK's teammate, Pawina THONGSUK 

followed with victory in the middle heavyweight 

75kg class to give the Thai women double gold. 

The second and third place went to Russia with 

Natalia ZABOLOTNAIA, a contestant who 

performs regularly in international competition 

winning the silver and Valentina POPOVA 

winning the bronze. Gyongyi LIKERECZ 

(HUN), who participated in Sydney as a 

17-year-old and was placed fifth, and a year later 

won the world championships in the Turkish 

city of Antalya, ended fourth. Young Greek star 

Christina IOANNIDI made her debut in 

Olympic Games competition, ending fifth, 

though she had already won medals in 

European and World Championships. 

Women's +75kg 

China's Gonghong TANG, holder of world 

records for total (302,5kg) and clean and jerk 

(175kg), took the gold with 305kg, and beat 

South Korea's Mi Ran JANG (302,5). The 

bronze was awarded to the 23-year-old Sydney 

silver medallist, Agata WROBEL (POL). 

However; the other Sydney medallist, 19-yearold 

Cheryl HAWORTH (USA) ended sixth. 

The host nation's athlete Vasiliki KASAPI ended 

eighth. 

Women's 63kg 

Name 

NOC Score 

Gold SKAKUN Nataliya UKR 242.5 

Silver BATSIUSHKA Hanna BLR 242.5 

Bronze STUKALAVA Tatsiana BLR 222.5 

4th SASSI Hayet 

TUN 215.0 

5th KIM Soo Kyung 

KOR 215.0 

6th NGUYEN Thi Thiet VIE 205.0 

7th LASSOUANI Leila Francoise ALG 200.0 

TSAKIRI Anastasia GRE DNF 

Women's 75kg 

Name 

Gold THONGSUK Pawina 

Silver ZABOLOTNAIA Natalia 

Bronze POPOVA Valentina 

4th LIKERECZ Gyongyi 

5th IOANNIDI Christina 

6th KHROMOVA Tatyana 

7th KIM Soon Hee 

8th MEDINA Tulia Angela 

NOC 

THA 

RUS 

RUS 

HUN 

GRE 

KAZ 

KOR 

COL 

Score 

272.5 

272.5 

265.0 

257.5 

255.0 

252.5 

250.0 

245.0

This page: 

Viktors Scerbatihs of Latvia lifts 

during the men's +105 kg 

weightlifting event. He lifted a total 

of 455kg to win silver. 

© REUTERS/R. Krause 

Women's +75kg 

Name 

NOC 

Gold TANG Gonghong CHN 

Silver JANG Mi Ran 

KOR 

Bronze WROBEL Agata 

POL 

4th VARGA Viktoria 

HUN 

5th SHAIMARDANOVA Victorij UKR 

6th HAWORTH Cheryl USA 

7th KOROBKA Olha 

UKR 

8th KASAPI Vasiliki 

GRE 

Score 

305.0 

302.5 

290.0 

282.5 

280.0 

280.0 

280.0 

277.5 


Left page: 

Iran's bronze medal winner Alireza 

Heidari grapples with Daniel 

Cormier of the U.S. in the men's 

freestyle 96kg wrestling 

competition. 

© REUTERS/E. Aponte 

Wrestling was contested in the Olympic Games 

of 776 BC, and was on the programme of the 

first modern Olympic Games in Athens, in 

1896. Wrestling has since been part of every 

Olympic Games, except in Paris in 1900. Both 

Wrestling styles have been held since 1920. Prior 

to that only one form was used, except in 1908. 

Three wrestlers have won gold medals in both 

styles: K. Anttila (FIN), I. Johansson (SWE), 

K. Palusalu (EST). Only four wrestlers have 

managed to win three gold medals at the 

Olympics: I. Johansson (SWE), C. Westergren 

(SWE), A. Medved (SOV), A. Karelin (RUS). 

Medved is the only one with three gold medals 

in Freestyle, whereas Karelin is the only one to 

have won three gold medals in the same body 

weight category, Super Heavyweight. 

Wrestling 


Olympic Wrestling competition programme was completed within eight days, 

from 22 to 29 August. 


11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 

Description 

Olympic Wrestling competition has two styles: 

Greco-Roman and Freestyle. The main 

difference between them is that Greco-Roman 

strictly forbids the competitor grasping the 

opponent below the belt line, to trip the 

opponent, or to use legs actively to perform any 

action, whereas with Freestyle all the above are 

permitted. Matches in both styles consist of two 

three-minute period with a 30 second rest 

between periods. Each match must have a 

winner Victory is by fall or by minimum of three 

technical points. The wrestler who has been 

allocated the most points is declared winner 

The match is managed by the referee, who uses 

his whistle to signal the start and end of a 

match, and allocates points for the holds of the 

wrestlers. 

In the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, athletes 

competed in the following weight categories: 

Men's Greco-Roman: 7 

Women's Freestyle:4 

Men's Freestyle: 7 


Men's 

Event 

Freestyle 55kg 







Greco-Roman 55kg 







Women's 





Venue 

Wrestlers 

Total: 18 

During the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games, 

Wrestling competitions were staged -along 

with the Judo tournament- at Ano Liossia 

Olympic Hall, in the northwest region of 

Athens, where 9.000 Wrestling and Judo fans 

had the opportunity to attend their favourite 

sport. 

22 

21 

21 

21 

22 

21 

20 

22 

22 

20 

20 

20 

22 

22 

14 

12 

12 

12 

NOC 

22 

21 

21 

21 

22 

21 

20 

22 

22 

20 

20 

20 

22 

22 

14 

12 

12 

12 


Right page: 

Eui Jae Moon of Korea is defeated 

by American Cael Sanderson in the 

men's Freestyle wrestling 84kg 

gold medal match. 

© Getty Images/S. Franklin 

434 

Games Highlights Men's Events 

Russia left Athens as the dominant Olympic 

Wrestling nation, after winning five of the 18 

gold medals on offer Apart from winning most 

medals (a total of 10), Russia was the only nation 

to leave Athens with a new double Olympic 

champion in Wrestling. Buvaysa SAYTIEV 

(RUS), who had been gold medallist in Atlanta, 

regained his title, while not one of the Sydney 

2000 champions was able to defend their 

Olympic gold. For the first time, Olympic 

Wrestling medals were contested in three 

disciplines - Men's Greco-Roman, Men's 

Freestyle and Women's Freestyle. Men's Greco- 

Roman debuted as part of the first modern 

Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, Men's 

Freestyle Wrestling entered the programme 

eight years later; now, 100 years on, Women's 

Freestyle Wrestling has made it into the 

Olympic programme. In four weight categories 

(as opposed to seven in World Championships) 

50 women wrestled for the first medals and 

gave a great boost to the sport. Japan took two 

gold medals, China and Ukraine one each. 

Results in the early stages of the Women's 

categories hinted that the ATHENS 2004 

Olympic Games might not be a smooth run for 

the most successful wrestling force historically. 

The USA team had to hold its collective breath, 

until the second-to-last day of the tournament, 

when it finally won its first gold medal. After 

having lost three gold medal matches (one in 

Women's Freestyle, two in Men's Freestyle), 

Cael SANDERSON in the Men's Freestyle 

category -84kg, finally made the top of the 

podium. A score of one gold, three silver and 

two bronze medals does not sound bad, but 

with a record of 106 Olympic Wrestling medals 

(48-40-28) before Athens, the number one 

wrestling nation set out for more. On the other 

hand, one of the happier NOCs was Egypt. 

With only three competitors taking part in the 

wrestling tournament, they won one gold 

medal by Karam IBRAHIM, their first Olympic 

top spot since 1928, when Ibrahim MOUSTAFA 

had won the category -90kg. First Olympic 

medals ever were won by Uzbekistan, which 

ended the tournament with two golds and a 

silver, from only seven competitors. The 

ATHENS 2004 Olympic tournament was the 

last major competition being held using the 

time-consuming pool competition system. 

The next World Championships will be held 

with a direct elimination system with a 

repechage. 

Men's Freestyle 55kg 

Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 


Name 

BATIROV Mavtet 

ABAS Stephen 

TANABE Chikara 

KARNTANOV Amiran 

LI Zhengyu 

KIM Hyo Sub 

ZAKHARUK Oleksandr 

O Song Nam 

NOC 

RUS 

USA 

JPN 

GRE 

CHN 

KOR 

UKR 

PRK 


Before SANDERSON'S success, Stephen 

ABAS was comprehensively beaten 9-1 by 

Mavlet BATIROV (RUS) in the 55kg gold medal 

match. In the bronze medal match, Chikara 

TANABE (JPN) beat Greece's Amiran 

KARNTANOV, the bronze medallist in Sydney. 


Cuba's Yandro Miguel QUINTANA, the runner 

up in the 2003 World Championships (60kg), 

made his way to the top of the podium, claiming 

a gold medal with a powerful display against 

Masuod JOKAR (IRI). QUINTAN A dominated 

the match to win 4-0 and claim gold in his first 

Olympic Games. The bronze medal in the 60kg 

category went to Kenji INOUE (JPN), who won 

6-5 in extension time over Vasyl FEDORYSHYN 

(UKR). 


Jamill KELLY was also soundly beaten, trailing 

5-0 to Elbrus TEDEYEV (UKR) in the -66kg 

gold medal match, before scoring a consolation 

point near the end. Makhach MURTAZALIEV 

(RUS) went for the bronze after beating Leonid 

SPIRIDONOV (KAZ), with two points in a 

nine-minute match. 


In the 74kg category, Buvaysa SAYTIEV (RUS) 

achieved the unusual distinction of winning back 

a title he won eight years earlier; after he 

claimed the gold medal at these Games to add 

to the gold he won at Atlanta in 1996. In Men's 

Freestyle Wrestling, only Bruce BAUMGARTNER 

(USA), who was Olympic champion (120kg) at 

Los Angeles in 1984 and then again at Barcelona 

in 1992 and Sergej BELOGLASOV (URS), who 

was Olympic champion (60kg) at Moscow in 

1980 and then again at Seoul in 1988, have done 

the same. SAYTIEV, also a five-time world 

champion (74kg) 1995, 2003, (76kg) 1997,1998, 

2001, scored a dominant 7-0 win over Gennadiy 

LALIYEV (KAZ) in the final match, although 

LALIYEV's silver will be more than welcome, 

given his just missing the medals in fourth place 

at Sydney in 2000. Another wrestler from Cuba 

claimed the bronze medal in the 74kg class. 

Having been behind 1-0 after the regular time of 

the bout, Ivan FUNDORA really enjoyed the 

extension time, and scored three consecutive 

points, which gave him the win over Krystian 

BRZOZOWSKI (POL). 


Name 

Gold QUINTANA Yandro Miguel 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

JOKAR Masuod 

INOUE Kenji 

FEDORYSHYN Vasyl 

POGOSIAN David 

SISSAOURI Guivi 

JUNG Young Ho 

CIKEL Lubos 

NOC 

CUB 

IRI 

JPN 

UKR 

GEO 

CAN 

KOR 

AUT

This page: 

Japan's Kenji Inoue grapples with 

Austria's Lubos Cikel in their 

men's freestyle wrestling 60kg 

match. Inoue went on to win the 

bronze, while Cikel ranked eighth. 

© REUTERS/I. Kato 

436 



Name 

Gold TEDEYEV Elbrus 

Silver KELLY Jamill 

Bronze MURTAZALIEV Makhach 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

SPIRIDONOV Leonid 

IKEMATSU Kazuhiko 

TASKOUDIS Apostolos 

CUBUKCI Omer 

BARZAKOV Serafim 


Name 

Gold SANDERSON Cael 

Silver MOON Eui Jae 

Bronze SAZHIDOV Sazhid 

4th ROMERO Yoel 

5th KHODAEI Majid 

6th LOIZIDIS Lazaros 

7th DANKO Taras 

8th ALIEV Shamil 


Name 

Gold TAYMAZOV Artur 

Silver REZAEI Alireza 

Bronze POLATCI Aydin 

4th MUTALIMOV Marid 

5th RODRIGUEZ Alexis 

6th KURAMAGOMEDOV 

Kuramagomed 

7th McCOY Kerry 

8th BOYADZHIEV Bozhidar 

NOC 

UKR 

USA 

RUS 

KAZ 

JPN 

GRE 

TUR 

BUL 

NOC 

USA 

KOR 

RUS 

CUB 

IRI 

GRE 

UKR 

TJK 

NOC 

UZB 

IRI 

TUR 

KAZ 

CUB 

RUS 

USA 

BUL 


Name 

Gold SAYTIEV Buvaysa 

Silver LALIYEV Gennadiy 

Bronze FUNDORA Ivan 

4th BRZOZOWSKI Krystian 

5th WILLIAMS Joe 

6th IGALI Daniel 

7th RINELLA Salvatore 

8th GEVORGYAN Arayik 


Name 

Gold GATSALOV Khadjimourat 

Silver IBRAGIMOV Magomed 

Bronze HEIDARI AIireza 

4th CORMIER Daniel 

5th AGHAYEV Rustam 

6th WANG Yuanyuan 

7th SHEMAROV AIeksandr 

8th KURTANIDZE Eldar 

Men's Greco-Roman 55kg 

Name 

Gold MAJOROS Istvan 

Silver MAMEDALIEV Gueidar 

Bronze KIOUREGKIAN Artiom 

4th VAKULENKO Oleksiy 

5th RIVAS Lazaro 

6th CHOCHUA Irakli 

7th IM Dae Won 

8th NYBLOM Haakan 

NOC 

RUS 

KAZ 

CUB 

POL 

USA 

CAN 

ITA 

ARM 

NOC 

RUS 

UZB 

IRI 

USA 

AZE 

CHN 

BLR 

GEO 

NOC 

HUN 

RUS 

GRE 

UKR 

CUB 

GEO 

KOR 

DEN

This page: 

Ji Hyun Jung of Korea wrestles 

Roberto Monzon of Cuba in the 

men's Greco-Roman wrestling 

60kg gold medal match. Jung 

defeated Monzon 3-0 to win the 

gold medal. 

© Getty Images/D. Pensinger 


After Stephen ABAS (-55kg) and Jamill KELLY 

(-66kg) lost their gold medal matches, Cael 

SANDERSON (-84kg) came from behind to 

take the Olympic title, against his Korean 

opponent, Eui Jae MOON. The win added to 

the USA's standing as the most successful 

nation in Olympic Men's Freestyle Wrestling, 

with 45 gold medals to date and a record of 

never failing to win at least one gold at each 

Olympic Games. In a far tighter encounter, 

SANDERSON fell 1-0 behind early to MOON. 

There the score stayed, until SANDERSON 

scored two late points to win the bout. 

MOON was left with another silver medal to 

go with the ones he earned in Sydney in 2000 

(in -76kg), the 2001 and 1998 World 

Championships (-76kg) and the 2004 Asian 

Championships (-84kg). Sazhid SAZHIDOV, on 

the other hand, denied Sydney's silver medallist 

Yoel ROMERO (CUB) a place on the podium. 


Russia's Khadjimourat GATSALOV proved to 

be the stronger of the two 21-year-olds in the 

final, overcoming Magomed IBRAGIMOV 

(UZB) 4-1. Finally, there was a happy end to the 

day for Iran's Alireza HEIDARI, who claimed the 

bronze medal. 


In the 120kg gold medal, the match was won by 

Artur TAYMAZOV (UZB), when he pinned 

Alireza REZAEI (IRI) to the ground. 

TAYMAZOV was silver medallist in Sydney, and 

is now reigning Olympic and world champion. 

The heavyweight bronze medal saw Aydin 

POLATCI (TUR) defeat Marid MUTALIMOV 

(KAZ). 


In the Men's Greco-Roman 55kg class, Gueidar 

MAMEDALIEV (RUS), world champion in 2002, 

failed to win the gold, over Hungarian Istvan 

MAJOROS. The bronze was awarded to the 

host nation's athlete Artiom KIOUREGKIAN. 

The Silver medallist at the Sydney 2000 

Olympic Games, Lazaro RIVAS (CUB) failed to 

be a medal contender again, and ended in the 

fifth place. The runner up of last year's World 

Championships, Dae Won IM (KOR) was 

ranked seventh. 


438 



After Ji Hyun JUNG (KOR) beat Armen 

NAZARIAN (BUL), the double world and 

double Olympic Champion, to reach the final in 

the -60kg category, he let nothing get in the way 

of winning the gold medal. The 21-year-old 

Korean defeated Roberto MONZON (CUB) 

3-0 to take the gold. NAZARIAN, who failed in 

his attempt to win a third consecutive gold 

medal, took the bronze medal by a narrow 

4-3 over Alexey SHEVTSOV (RUS). 


Farid MANSUROV (AZE) enjoyed his victory 

for the gold, over Seref EROGLU from Turkey. 

The bronze medal was awarded to Mkkhitar 

MANUKYAN (KAZ). 


Alexandr DOKTURISHIVILI (UZB) took gold 

in the -74kg category over Marko YLI- 

HANNUKSELA (FIN). "He was just better" said 

YLI-HANNUKSELA. DOKTURISHMLI won 

4-1. In the bronze medal match, Varteres 

SAMOURGACHEV (RUS), the Sydney 

Olympic champion, took just 1:07 minutes to 

beat Reto BUCHER of Switzerland 10-0. 


Elsewhere, the gold medal match in the 84kg 

Greco-Roman category was an extraordinarily 

close affair. After nine minutes (six minutes 

regular time plus three minutes extension) 

Alexei MICHINE (RUS) and Ara 

ABRAHAMIAN (SWE) were deadlocked 1-1. 

Hundreds of spectators held their breath 

waiting for Referee Fredi Gunther Willi 

ALBRECHT to step in, and announce the new 


Gold 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

Name 

JUNG Ji Hyun 

MONZON Roberto 

NAZARIAN Armen 

SHEVTSOV Alexey 

SASAMOTO Makoto 

KOIZHAIGANOV Nurlan 

DIACONU Eusebiu lancu 

TUFENK Seref 


Name 

Gold DOKTURISHIVILI Alexandr 

Silver YLI-HANNUKSELA Marko 

Bronze SAMOURGACHEV Varteres 

4th BUCHER Reto 

5th KHALIMOV Danil 

6th AZCUY Filiberto 

7th SCHNEIDER Konstantin 

8th BERZICZA Tamas 

NOC 

KOR 

CUB 

BUL 

RUS 

JPN 

JAZ 

ROM 

TUR 

NOC 

UZB 

FIN 

RUS 

SUI 

KAZ 

CUB 

GER 

HUN 

Olympic Champion. In the end, MICHINE was 

awarded the gold. Former Olympic Champion 

Hamza YERLIKAYA (TUR) had to settle for the 

fourth place, losing his bronze medal match to 

Viachaslau MAKARANKA (BLR). The match 

was also close, going into extension at 1:1 with 

MAKARANKA ended up winning 2:1. 


In the 96kg category Karam IBRAHIM (EGY) 

defeated Ramaz NOZADZE (GEO) 12-1 to 

earn Egypt's first wrestling gold medal since 

1928. The bronze medal went to Mehmet 

OZAL (TUR), who prevailed 3-2 over Masoud 

HASHEMZADEH (IRI). 


The title of the Olympic Champion in the Men's 

Greco-Roman 120kg category went back to 

Russia, after 21-year-old Khasan BAROEV's 

(RUS) 4-2 victory, over Georgiy TSURTSUMIA 

(KAZ). It would appear the 120kg category has 

found its new star, as BAROEV is now reigning 

world champion, as well as Olympic Champion. 

Meanwhile, with two yellow cards in his favour 

and one additional point in extension time, 

Rulon GARDNER (USA) won the bronze 

medal. In an emotional moment, GARDNER 

returned to the mat, following his victory over 

Sajad BARZI (IRI), sat down in the centre point, 

took off his wrestling shoes, waved the 

American flag, bowed and declared his 

retirement. GARDNER, who became an 

overnight hero by beating legendary 

Aleksandre KARELIN (RUS) in the final in the 

2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, said goodbye 

to his Wrestling career. 


Name 

Gold MANSUROV Farid 

Silver EROGLU Seref 

Bronze MANUKYAN Mkkhitar 

4th SAMUELSSON Jimmy 

5th VARDANYAN Armen 

6th ARKOUDEAS Konstantinos 

7th ZAMANDURIDIS Jannis 

8th GALUSTYAN Vaghinak 


Name 

Gold MICHINE Alexei 

Silver ABRAHAMIAN Ara 

Bronze MAKARANKA Viachaslau 

4th YERLIKAYA Hamza 

5th AVRAMIS Dimitrios 

6th 

7th 

8th 

DARAGAN Oleksandr 

MATSUMOTO Shingo 

GEGHAMYAN Levon 

NOC 

AZE 

TUR 

KAZ 

SWE 

UKR 

GRE 

GER 

ARM 

NOC 

RUS 

SWE 

BLR 

TUR 

GRE 

UKR 

JPN 

ARM


Name 

Gold IBRAHIM Karam 

Silver NOZADZE Ramaz 

Bronze OZAL Mehmet 

4th PENA Ernesto 

5th CHHAIDZE Genadi 

6th KOGUASHVILI Gogi 

7th KOUTSIOUMPAS Georgios 

8th 

DINCHEV Kaloyan 


NOC 

EGY 

GEO 

TUR 

CUB 

KGZ 

RUS 

GRE 

BUL 

Women's Freestyle 48kg 

In the Women's Freestyle 48kg category Japan's 

reigning (52kg) world champion Chiharu ICHO 

lost the gold, after she was defeated by 

Ukraine's reigning (48kg) world champion, Irini 

MERLENI (UKR), also known as Irina MELKIN. 

In the bronze medal match, the Frenchwoman 

Angelique BERTHENET could not catch up 

with Patricia MIRANDA (USA), and lost the 

medal. In the fight for rank five, the former world 

champion Brigitte WAGNER (GER) lost from 

Lorisa OORZHAK (RUS), and ended sixth. 


The two times world champion (2002 and 

2003), Saori YOSHIDA (JPN) won the gold 

over Tonya VERBEEK (CAN). Anna GOMIS 

(FRA), who eased through to the last four 

without any problems, won the bronze, after 

defeating Ida-Theres KARLSSON (SWE). 

A rookie on the international stage, Tela 

O'DONNELL (USA) ranked sixth, whereas 

surprisingly Diletta GIAMPICCOLO (ITA), 

silver medallist in the World Championships in 

2001, was out of the competition, final rank 11. 


Name 

Gold MERLENI Irini 

Silver ICHO Chiharu 

Bronze MIRANDA Patricia 

4th BERTHENET Angelique 

5th OORZHAK Lorisa 

6th WAGNER Brigitte 

7th KARAMCHAKOVA Lidiya 

8th TSOGTBAZAR Enkhjargal 


Name 

Gold ICHO Kaori 

Silver McMANN Sara 

Bronze LEGRAND Lise 

4th ZYGOURI Stavroula 

5th YANIK Viola 

6th KHILKO Volha 

7th GROSS Stephanie 

8th KARTASHOVA Alena 

NOC 

UKR 

JPN 

USA 

FRA 

RUS 

GER 

TJK 

MGL 

NOC 

JPN 

USA 

FRA 

GRE 

CAN 

BLR 

GER 

RUS 


Name 

Gold BAROEV Khasan 

Silver TSURTSUMIA Georgiy 

Bronze GARDNER Rulon 

4th BARZI Sajad 

5th LOPEZ Mijail 

6th SZCZEPANIAK Yannick 

7th KOUTSIOUMPAS Xenofon 

8th MOREYKO Serguey 

NOC 

RUS 

KAZ 

USA 

IRI 

CUB 

FRA 

GRE 

BUL 


The final of the 63kg category was a replay of 

last year's World Championship final. Kaori 

ICHO from Japan took the gold, after defeating 

Sara McMANN. Both had won their semi-final 

matches, without any points against them. Sara 

McMANN had pinned Stavroula ZYGOURI 

(GRE), after only 50 seconds, whereas Kaori 

ICHO had won 4:0 over Use LEGRAND (FRA). 

The bronze medal fight, between the 

experienced Use LEGRAND and the surprise 

semi-finalist, Stavroula ZYGOURI (GRE), saw 

LEGRAND winning the third place. Canadian 

Viola YANIK won the fifth place over Volha 

KHILKO (BLR). 


Xu WANG (CHN) met and defeated Gouzel 

MANIOUROVA (RUS) in the gold medal 

match. Kyoko HAMAGUCHI, who had been 

the world champion of the previous two years, 

won the third place and took the bronze, after 

defeating Svitlana SAYENKO (UKR). 


Name 

Gold YOSHIDA Saori 

Silver VERBEEK Tonya 

Bronze GOMIS Anna 

4th KARLSSON Ida-Theres 

5th SUN Dongmei 

6th ODONNELLTela 

7th LEE Na Lae 

8th LAZAREVATetyana 


Name 

Gold WANG Xu 

Silver 

Bronze 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

MANIOUROVA Gouzel 

HAMAGUCHI Kyoko 

SAYENKO Svitlana 

NORDHAGEN Christine 

SCHAETZLE Anita 

MONTGOMERY Toccara 

VRYONI Maria Louiza 

NOC 

JPN 

CAN 

FRA 

SWE 

CHN 

USA 

KOR 

UKR 

NOC 

CHN 

RUS 

JPN 

UKR 

CAN 

GER 

USA 

GRE 


Left page, 


The Doping Control Laboratory 

of Athens during the final days 

before the start of the ATHENS 

2004 Olympic Games. 


The World Anti-Doping Agency 

(WADA) Chairman Richard W. 

Pound speaks during a press 

conference in Athens. 

© REUTERS/D. Sagolj 

Laboratory technicians work at 

the Doping Control Laboratory 

of Athens before the start of the 

ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. 


Doping Control 

ATHOC Doping Control Services organised 

and implemented the most intensive and 

efficient Doping Control programme to date in 

Olympic Games. A total of 3.527 tests were 

carried out, a notable increase of 25% 

compared to urine tests in the Sydney Games. 

2.863 urine samples were collected, 671 blood 

samples and 58 samples of expired air. 

In order to upgrade the level of provided 

services, the Doping Control Services adapted 

their procedures per the ISO 9001/2000 quality 

control system standards. It is worth noting that 

during the Games, six new analytical 

methodologies were applied, and the athletes' 

samples remained available for research 

purposes, provided the athletes had consented 

in writing to this use. 

Organisation 

Given the particular scientific nature of Doping 

Control and the fact that it is not directly 

related to the field of general medical practice, 

in December 2002. Doping Control Services 

were separated, administratively and 

structurally, from Medical Services. They 

reported directly to the Chief Operating 

Officer, a strategic choice that stemmed from 

the high level of confidentiality required by the 

information and from the high risk in Doping 

Control issues management. 

In June 2003, the second phase of staffing the 

Doping Control Services was completed, which 

period coincides with the completion of the 

volunteer recruitment phase, from related 

University schools in Athens and the Olympic 

Cities. The following positions were deemed 

volunteer positions: Doping Control Medical 

Officer, Phlebotomist, Doping Control 

Technical Officer; Escort Coordinator, Escort 

(Chaperone), Administrative Staff, Laboratory 

Support Personnel. 

Volunteer response exceeded 1.200 

applications, the evaluation of which began in 

June 2003, with the selection of the first group 

of volunteers that staffed the Doping Control 

Services during the test events, and was 

completed a year later. In the same period, 

several four-days-training seminars per forty 

participants each were organised, which were 

completed with two open workshops on 28 

and 29 July 2004. 

The last staffing phase of Doping Control 

Services was completed in July-August 2004, 

with the hiring of the Olympic and Paralympic 

Games staff: Venue Doping Control Managers, 

Head Doping Control Medical Officers, Blood 

Testing Coordinator; Laboratory Experts. 

A total of 744 people of various specialities 

were involved, of whom 501 were volunteers, 

mostly chemists and medical doctors / health 

sciences professionals (15-20%, respectively), 

as well as pharmacists, biologists, physical 

education professionals, etc. 

Doping Control Laboratory 

The organisational and administrative 

relationship of each Organising Committee 

with the Doping Control Laboratory 

responsible for carrying out analysis is a 

distinctive variable in each Games. In Athens, 

the Organising Committee handled the staffing 

of the Laboratory with the necessary scientific 

staff, but did not retain administrative control of 

the staff during the Games, since traditionally 

the Laboratory Director reports directly to the 

Chairman of the IOC Medical Commission. 


442 


Thirty percent of the Doping Control Services' 

budgeted expenditures covered the OAKA 

Doping Control Laboratory's Games-time 

needs for procurement of necessary 

equipment and consumables, as well as staffing. 

The Laboratory was contracted by the 

Organising Committee in June 2001 through a 

Memorandum of Understanding between the 

General Secretariat of Sport (GSS) and 

ATHOC, as the WADA Accredited Doping 

Control Laboratory that would carry out the 

analysis of the Doping Control samples for the 

Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Within the framework of the IOC's decision to 

apply six new analytical methodologies in the 

Olympic Games of Athens, it was agreed that 

the IOC would cover the cost of implementing 

this decision. 

Equipment 

The equipment used for Doping Control is 

distinguished into the equipment for sample 

collection and the Doping Control Stations, and 

the analytical equipment installed in the OAKA 

Doping Control Laboratory for the analysis of 

the samples for the Olympic and Paralympic 

Games. 

The technological equipment used in analysis 

during the Olympic Games came from three 

sources: 

1. The permanent equipment of the OAKA 

Doping Control Laboratory, belonging to the 

GSS. 

2. The temporary laboratory and supporting 

equipment supplied by the Organising 

Committee to the Laboratory. 

3. The equipment supplied to the Laboratory 

by the IOC through the Organising 

Committee. 

Cooperation with WADA 

The World Anti-Doping Agency was founded in 

November 1999, on an IOC initiative, in order to 

promote and coordinate at an international level 

the fight against doping in all its forms, according 

to the principles of the Olympic Charter, as well 

as to manage and disseminate information, 

scientific and other, related to the field. 

The WADA Anti-Doping Code, and the 

International Standards that accompany it, 

is since March 2003, the legal and procedural 

document that describes the rules governing 

Doping Control in general, and was first applied 

in the Olympic Games of Athens, replacing the 

Anti-Doping Code of the Olympic Movement. 

The IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable for the 

Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens were 

issued in June 2004 and were an illustrative 

document of the Code and Standards for the 

specific event having legal validity for the 

Games, serving as "the Bible" of Doping Control 

in the Athens Olympic Games. The traditional 

publication of a Doping Control Guide by the 

Organising Committee, not legally binding up to 

and including the Salt Lake Olympic Winter 

Games, was instituted for the first time as the 

technical document for the entirety of the 

Doping Control procedures, from the 

distribution of tests and the issuing of TUE 

(Therapeutic Use Exemption) to reporting and 

results management and the imposing of 

sanctions. 

The Doping Control programme for the 

Athens Paralympic Games was created parallel 

to that of the Olympic Games, for the first time 

under the same Organising Committee, using 

the same structure and development lines. 

The IPC Anti-Doping Rules took their place as 

a reference document, while an effort was 

made to introduce the innovations also into the 

Paralympic Games in tandem, despite the IPCs 

inability to finance them. 

The presence of the WADA Team of 

Independent Observers, instituted in the 

Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games, 

continued in Athens, with the presence of 

suitably accredited 9-member and 5-member 

teams, respectively. The role of the Independent 

Observers is to observe constantly with 

physical presence the Doping Control 

procedures, beginning with the selection of 

Athletes to be tested, up to the reporting of 

results, and the drafting of a report thereupon 

with observations, comments and noncompliances 

of the procedures with the 

International Standards and the relevant quality 

control standards, as well as suggestions for 

changes and amendments to the articles of the 

International Standards that suffer in their 

practical application. 

Doping Control in the Olympic and Paralympic 

Games of Athens was carried out within the 

framework of the foregoing, with ATHOC 

Doping Control Services undertaking an 

institutional role in Doping Control extending 

beyond the narrow limits of the Games, as per 

the contract signed between WADA and 

ATHOC. The IOC and the IPC were entirely 

responsible for the management of the results 

reported by the Laboratory and for the 

imposition of sanctions, while the management 

of analytical findings and the final results 

reporting remained the responsibility of the 

Doping Control Laboratory. 

It is worth mentioning that the Doping Control 

Services budget for the first time also included 

limited revenues, from carrying out sample 

collection for third parties other than the IOC, 

such as WADA, the French Sports Ministry, etc. 

Doping Control in Test Events 

During the hosting of the test events, ATHOC 

Doping Control Services carried out a series of 

tests to verify its policies, procedures and 

operations, as well as to train, at a practical level, 

its paid staff and volunteers. 

Testing was carried out in all test events and the 

level of services provided was Olympic level. 

The only operations that were carried out in a 

different manner than that of the Olympic 

period were: 

• The transport of the samples from the 

Doping Control Stations to the OAKA Doping 

Control Laboratory: it was carried out by the 

Head Medical Officer and not by the official 

sponsor (Hellenic Post) sample courier

This page, 


A laboratory technician works at 

the Doping Control Laboratory. 


A laboratory technician operates a 

centrifuge at the Doping Control 

Laboratory. 



This page: 

International Olympic Committee 

medical director Patrick Schamasch 

visits the Doping Control 

Laboratory. 

© REUTERS/POOL/T. Stavrakis 

444 


• The time for results reporting: the time limit of 

24 hours for negative results and 36 hours for 

positive results was not applied. The reporting 

turn-around times, following an agreement with 

each event's organisers, ranged within the levels 

of results reporting of the OAKA Doping 

Control Laboratory's normal operation (7-10 

working days). 

• Results management: ATHOC Doping 

Control Services was the recipient of the 

results from the OAKA Doping Control 

Laboratory, as per article 7.0 and Appendix I of 

the Anti-Doping Code, further to an 

explanatory note by the IOC (February 2004). 

The same decision refers to the fact that the 

OAKA Doping Control Laboratory must also 

send the test results of the test events to the 

International Federation concerned, and to 

WADA. 

The number and distribution of tests in the test 

events were the responsibility of ATHOC 

Doping Control Services, and was defined in 

cooperation with the Competition 

Management of each Sport, which was 

responsible for forwarding the final proposal to 

the official organiser of the event. 

In all, 625 urine tests were carried out (12 in 

2002, 117 in 2003 and 496 in 2004). Of these, 2 

samples tested positive in the Laboratory, giving 

adverse analytical findings. Specifically, 

cannabinoids were detected in one sample - 

ISSF World Cup in Shooting - and diuretics 

(hydrochlorothiazide) in the other-the FILA 

Athens Women's Wrestling International 

Tournament 2004. 

The only test event in which ATHOC Doping 

Control Services did not participate, but 

provided only support in personnel, materials 

and physical space, were the two Cycling Road 

Race events in August 2003, as there was not an 

agreement with UCI on testing procedures or 

distribution. It should be noted that at that time 

UCI had not yet accepted, signed and applied 

the WADA Anti-Doping Code and 

corresponding International Standards. 

With regard to testing in test events for 

Paralympic Sports, ATHOC Doping Control 

Services participated only in that for Goalball in 

January 2004, where 6 Athletes were tested. 

Doping Control 

in the Olympic Games 

Doping control is distinguished into "Out-of- 

Competition" and "In-Competition" testing. 

As explained in the WADA Anti-Doping 

Code, "the distinction between "In- 

Competition" and "Out-of-Competition" 

testing is significant because the full Prohibited 

List is only tested for "In-Competition". 

Prohibited stimulants, for example, are not 

tested for Out-of-Competition because they 

have no performance enhancing benefit unless 

they are in the athlete's system while the athlete 

is actually competing. So long as the prohibited 

stimulant has cleared the athlete's system at the 

time the athlete competes, it makes no 

difference whether that stimulant could have 

been found in the athlete's urine the day before 

or the day after the Competition. In the case of 

the Athens Olympic Gamesm, this distinction did 

not apply, and all tests, from the date that testing 

came under the responsibility of the IOC, with 

the simultaneous official opening of the 

Olympic Village (30 July 2004) until the end of 

the Closing Ceremony of the Games (29 

August 2004), for the first time in the Olympic 

Games, were considered and handled as In- 

Competition testing. This fact affected both the 

athlete notification procedures (Doping 

Control International Standard, article 5.4), and 

sample analysis (International Standard List of 

Prohibited Substances and Methods). 

In order to coordinate pre-competition testing, 

a tripartite team from the IOC, WADA and 

ATHOC was assembled for the first time in the

Olympic Games. Apart from ATHOC Doping 

Control Services, WADA and the sample 

collection agencies contracted with it could carry 

out these tests anywhere in the world, following 

written authorisation by the IOC. However, the 

exclusive responsibility for testing in the Olympic 

Competition and Non-Competition Venues 

remained with the ATHOC Doping Control 

Services. Having been contracted with WADA 

to carry out testing, ATHOC Doping Control 

Services might also receive an order from 

WADA (following authorisation by the IOC) to 

carry out testing in non-Olympic Venues: an 

eventual case that, primarily due to the heavy 

workload, did not occur. 

The distribution of pre-competition testing was 

carried out based on the number of 

participating athletes per National Olympic 

Committee. One hundred and ninety three 

NOCs were tested of a total 202 participating 

in the Games. As a general rule, the following 

algorithm was applied, not strictly: for NOCs 

with a number of participating athletes less or 

equal to 10, there corresponded 1 test, for 

NOCs with a number of participating athletes 

11-50, two tests were planned, for NOCs with 

51-100 participating athletes, 3 tests, while for 

NOCs with more than 100 athletes, there 

corresponded more than 4 tests. The selection 

of athletes per NOC was made based on the 

position of the athletes on the corresponding 

IF's ranking list, their availability for testing in the 

past, results of past testing, as well as general 

information that WADA provided to the team. 

Based on these criteria, an active testing list was 

drawn up on 29 July 2004, which included 649 

athletes in all, to which 42 athletes were later 

added, further to information reaching the 

tripartite team at a later date. 

Eventually, 292 athletes were tested precompetition 

by the ATHOC Doping Control 

Services, 83 by WADA, and 4 by both 

organisations, a total of 375 tested athletes and 

383 tests. It should be noted that all precompetition 

Doping testing included collection 

of a urine sample and a blood sample. All blood 

samples were tested for hGH (human Growth 

Hormone). In only 4 cases did WADA and its 

contracted sample collection services not 

succeed in collecting a blood sample. 

The number and the distribution of postcompetition 

testing for urine samples, as well as 

analysis for EPO (Erythropoietin), had been 

agreed between the IOC, the International 

Federation of each Sport and ATHOC, by 

virtue of signing a doping control protocol. 

The process of signature of these protocols was 

completed in July 2004. The distribution of 

blood samples was decided by the IOC, in 

cooperation with the ATHOC Doping Control 

Services, and was communicated to the IFs on 

29 July 2004, in a circular letter signed by the 

Director of the IOC Medical Commission and 

the ATHOC Doping Control Programme 

Manager In all, 2.394 urine tests and 317 blood 

tests were carried out in a total of 10.862 

athletes. 

During the Games, a limited number of 

additional tests were carried out in various 

sports. Specifically, 12 urine tests were carried 

out on orders of some NOCs (Australia, 

Belgium, France, Spain, Mauritius, Slovenia), 1 

urine and blood test for hGH on orders of the 

NOC of Ecuador, 7 targeted urine tests on the 

Cuban women's Judo team on orders of the 

International Judo Federation (IJF), I urine test 

on orders of the French Sport Ministry, one 

urine and blood test for heterologous 

transfusions/HBOCs (Haemoglobin-Based 

Oxygen Carriers) on orders of the 

International Modern Pentathlon Federation 

(UIPM), as well as 64 routing blood analyses for 

haematological parameters under the 

responsibility of UIPM. 

The maximum planned sample collection and 

analysis capacity was 215 samples (180 urine and 

35 blood) per day. On average, 122 samples 

were collected and analysed (96 urine and 24 

blood) daily, though for four days in the period 

18-22 August 2004 the maximum planned 

capacity was exceeded without difficulties 

affecting smooth operations, either during 

sample collection or analysis and results 

reporting. The maximum number of samples 

collected and analysed was on 21 August 2004, 

with 274 samples (222 urine and 48 blood). In 

the Sports of Archery and Modern Pentathlon 

additional testing was carried out on expired air 

to monitor alcohol. 

Daily Testing distribution in the Athens Olympic Games from 30 July 2004 to 29 August 2004, 

and biological material collected. 

Expired Air Samples 

Blood Samples 

Urine Samples 


This page: 

A Greek security officer 

patrols near the entrance 

of the Doping Control Laboratory 

at the Athens Olympics Sports 

Complex (OAKA). 

© REUTERS/J. Reed 

446 


Positive Cases in the Olympic Games 

During the Athens Olympic Games, a record 

number of Doping control tests were carried 

out, leading at the same time, to a record 

number of actual positive cases. 

Doping Control in the 

Paralympic Games 

Number of tests and number of positive cases in all Olympic Games, in which Doping Control 

was carried out: 

Number of Tests 

Number of Positive Cases 

Of the 17 positive Doping Control cases, 

12 concern athletes in whose prohibited 

substances were detected in their urine sample 

(8 anabolic agents, I diuretic and 3 stimulants) 

and 5 concern athletes who committed other 

types of anti-doping rules violation (e.g. refusal 

to submit to testing). It is worth noting that this 

is the first time in Olympic Games that the 

failure to collect a sample through fault of the 

athlete was viewed by the IOC as an anti- 

Doping rules violation and entailed the sanction 

of exclusion from the Games. In these specific 

5 cases, the anti-Doping rules violation rested 

on the process and not on the Laboratory's 

analytical finding. Additionally, there were 

another 7 positive samples that concerned 

Weightlifting athletes after controls carried out 

by the International Weightlifting Federation 

(IWF) between 7 and 13 August 2004 on all 

athletes participating in the sport (258 athletes) 

and a further 2 after Out-of-Competition 

testing by the Hellenic Olympic Committee on 

all members of the delegation between 30 July - 

2 August 2004. 

In the Athens Paralympic Games, 680 Doping 

control tests were carried out. The only 

biological specimen was urine. In contrast to the 

IOC, the IPC decided to distinguish testing into 

Out-of-Competition for the period of 10 to 18 

September 2004, and In-Cormpetition for the 

period of 18 to 28 September 2004. 

A new tripartite team was set up, with 

representatives of the IPC, WADA and 

ATHOC, which handled the coordination of 

pre-competition testing. The process of sample 

collection during pre-competition testing was 

handled entirely by the ATHOC Doping 

Control Services, as WADA did not organise 

sample-collecting missions. The selection of 

Athletes to be tested Out-of-Competition was 

made on 10 September and focused on the 

high-risk Sports as evaluated by the IPC. 

The majority of tests concerned Athletics, 

Powerlifting, Judo, Swimming and Cycling athletes. 

In all, 166 athletes in 10 Paralympic Sports were 

tested. It is worth noting that of the 166 athletes, 

30 (athletes competing in the Marathon and in 

Swimming) were also tested with urine analysis 

for EPO.

This page: 

A laboratory technician works at 

the Doping Control Laboratory 

of Athens. 


With regard to In-Competition testing, 

ATHOC Doping Control Services and the IPC 

agreed the actual number of tests and their 

daily distribution per sport in April 2004. 

The criteria for each day's selection of athletes 

to undergo Doping Control per Sport were 

defined in the daily Doping Control morning 

meeting between ATHOC and the IPC. 

Doping Control on Competing Horses 

Doping Control was carried out on horses 

participating in both the Olympic and the 

Paralympic Games. Testing in the Olympic 

Games was the responsibility of the 

International Equestrian Federation (FEI). 

Forty tests (19,6%) were carried out, and as 

announced in late September 2004 there were 

Daily distribution of testing in the Athens Paralympic Games from 13 to 28 September 2004. 

Urine EPO Samples 

Urine Samples 

Positive Cases in the Paralympic Games 

There were 10 positive cases in the Paralympic 

Games. It is worth noting that the positive cases 

confirmed the IPCs evaluation of Paralympic 

Sports, because all the athletes in whose urine 

prohibited substances were detected, 

participated in high-risk Sports (Powerlifting, 

Judo, Track Cycling and Athletics). 

4 cases of an adverse analytical finding. The 

results management process was handled by 

FEI. In the Paralympic Games, 10 tests were 

carried out. 


Left page, 


Athens Olympic Sports Complex 

(OAKA). Videoboard at the 

Olympic Velodrome. 

© ATHOC/G. Prinos 


(OAKA). Olympic Aquatic Centre. 

The Sport Presentation Team in 

action. 

© ATHOC/P. Vardakas 

Panathinaiko Stadium. Spectators 

watch the Marathon Race on the 

videoboard. 

© ATHOC/N. Christodoulou 

Sport Presentation 

The purpose of Sport Presentation is to 

showcase each sporting event as a show and 

handle it as such. The critical choice, consistent 

with the underlying philosophy of the Games, 

concerned the format of the presentation, 

regarding which two trends are emerging: 

one giving precedence to the show and 

another placing emphasis on the sport event. 

The choice made by ATHOC was a Classic 

Sport Presentation, addressing Sports as selfcontained, 

integrated shows and using all 

modern means and facilities to showcase and 

promote them. 

The key creative choices were those regarding 

the Games music and the selections of the 

videos shown in all Venues. As far as possible, 

important choices also involved the selection 

of announcers, both Greek and foreign, based 

on criteria such as voice quality and proper 

articulation. On another level, monitoring the 

creative part and production of the Gymnastics 

Gala was also critical to ensure a good final result. 

"Music of the World" was selected as the 

musical identity for the Games. Music of all 

types, from all eras and all countries formed a 

Musical Library which, taking into consideration 

the particularities of each individual Sport or 

Venue, ensured the musical diversity 

appropriate for such an event. An innovative 

element introduced in Athens were the DJs - 

musical supervisors who were members of 

every Sport Presentation Team - who 

interpreted through music the atmosphere and 

mood of every moment, in every Venue. 

The same approach and philosophy was used 

for music in the Common Domains of the two 

largest complexes, OAKA and Helliniko. 

An expert contractor, drawing on video 

material from the IOC archives and applying the 

aesthetic specifications of the Organising 

Committee, produced all the videos. Despite 

the limited production time available, a large 

number of video films were produced (around 

600), with a good image and content level. 

Sport Presentation was initially a Section of the 

Sports Division. The staffing of the Section and 

the initial planning began in spring 2002, but the 

specific nature of the project and the need of 

organisational enhancement led to the decision 

to separate the Section from the Sports 

Division and to form a separate Department, 

together with Medal Ceremonies, in January 2004. 

In all, Sport Presentation involved 476 people: 

319 specialist staff (239 Greeks and 80 from 

abroad) and 145 volunteers in the Venue Teams, 

and 12 staff in the Central Team. 

Sport Presentation Teams 

in Venues 

Specialist personnel staffed the Presentation 

teams in the Olympic Venues, which were 

responsible for the presentation of every Sport 

at every Venue (or in some cases more than 

one Sports). The number of staff in each Sport 

Presentation team depended on the 

Competition Schedule of each Sport. 

Therefore, for Sports whose total number of 

Competition hours exceeded 8 hours, double 

shifts were necessary. Additionally, two 

Presentation teams were provided in the case 

of two different Fields of Play running 

simultaneously (e.g. Tennis, Baseball). During 

the Olympic Games, the announcements were 

made in three languages: Greek, English and 

French, while during the Paralympic Games and 

the test events, the announcements were made 

only in Greek and English (except in Fencing 

where announcements were made in all three 

languages). 


This page: 

Schinias Olympic Rowing and 

Canoeing Centre. The Sport 

Presentation Team operating from 

their special booth. 

© ATHOC/Y. Kontos 

450 


In order to secure specialist staff of Olympic 

calibre, various approaches were used. 

There was an initial sounding of National and 

International Federations, soliciting suggestions 

for announcers with previous experience in 

major events. The contact with all the suggested 

announcers resulted in the collection of a great 

number of resumes and demos, which were 

evaluated for selection. Because of the limited 

number of expert staff in Greece, experienced 

announcers from the Greek radio and 

television were sourced. All paid staff was 

initially hired for the test events and then staffed 

the Olympic and Paralympic Games Sport 

Presentation teams. The only exceptions were 

the music producers and the production 

coordinators, whose positions were created in 

early 2004. Just before the Games, a special 

Audio Booth was prepared in the ATHOC 

Headquarters for the final training and selection 

of the announcers. 

Most Venue Sport Presentation Managers were 

Greeks, mainly from the Greek television 

production industry. In certain Sports, there was 

a need for previous "Sport-specific" production 

experience, so foreign producers with such 

experience in previous Olympic Games were 

hired (e.g. Athletics, Baseball, Softball and 

Canoe/Kayak Slalom Racing). 

Finally, in several Sports (e.g. Archery, Baseball, 

Mountain Bike, Canoe/Kayak Slalom etc.), 

apart from announcement, there was a need 

for commentators during Competition. 

Experienced commentators were hired, 

proposed either by the respective National 

or International Federations or by the 

Competition Managers. ATHOCs policy was 

to provide commentating only in Greek, as 

most spectators were Greeks. Nevertheless, 

in those cases where there were no specialised 

Sport-specific Greek commentators, 

commentating was made in English and 

the Greek announcers would translate the 

highlights of the specialised commentating. 

Technological Equipment 

The Sport Presentation teams in the Venues 

were situated either within the Field of Play 

or in a special booth. In both cases, it was 

necessary to have the best possible view of 

the Competition. The technical planning was 

specified according to the needs of each Sport 

and the location of the Presentation team in 

the Venue. Technology used included: 

• Commentator Information System (CIS) 

and INFO 2004: These two systems provided 

information on the Athletes' statistics, 

previous records etc, to the announcers 

and commentators. 

• Wired and Wireless Communication 

Systems. 

• Video Standard Kit and Audio Standard Kit, 

as well as "Click Effects". 

Cue Sheets 

The Cue Sheets were the fundamental and 

most important tool for the Sport Presentation 

teams and guided each moment of the 

presentation. The initial Cue Sheets were 

created by the lead producers for the test 

events and were then enriched by the Venue 

Sport Presentation Managers and Coordinators 

for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

The Cue Sheets were based on information 

collected from various sources, such as the 

Competition Managers of each Sport, the 

International Federations and the Protocol 

of each Sport. 

The Cue Sheets for all Sports were created 

having taken into consideration the following: 

Greek, French and English official 

announcements, languages used during 

Competition, Spectator Services 

announcements, video programming, 

music style, audio cues and timing-scoring.

This page: 


(OAKA). Olympic Aquatics Centre. 

The Sport Presentation Team is 

situated near the Field of Play for 

Synchronised Swimming. 

© ATHOC/C. Cunliffe 

Music Library 

Music was a defining component of Sport 

Presentation. Contractors, experienced in 

entertainment and radio production were 

hired to create the 2.100-song Music Library. 

Its concept was "Music of the World", which 

incorporated songs and themes from all the 

countries participating in the Games, in order to 

make the music in the Competition Venues as 

familiar as possible to Athletes and spectators. 

Greek songs were approximately one-third of 

the Music Library. 

Music themes were divided into high-, mid- and 

low-tempo categories and were distributed 

according to the nature of the Sport. The 

number of themes was decided based on the 

duration of the Competition. Twenty "jingles" 

(short original music effects) and thirty-five 

sound effects (original music effects) were 

composed for the Games. Sport Presentation 

was also responsible for the remastering of the 

398 musical themes used by the Athletes of 

Dressage, Synchronised Swimming, Rhythmic 

Gymnastics and Artistic Gymnastics to 

accompany their effort. 

For the music and live announcements at the 

OAKA and Helliniko Common Domains, 

professional announcers, audio producers 

and music producers were hired. The Music 

Operators had the entire Music Library at their 

disposal to cover 18 hours of music per day. 

Video Programming 

The videos produced for the Olympic and 

Paralympic Games included: opening video, 

highlights, historical data about legendary 

Athletes, flashbacks, the timeline of the Olympic 

Games, information and rules of the Sports, 

statistical data, etc. 

Their production was assigned, after a tender, 

to a company with Olympic experience. For the 

Athens Games, videos were produced using 

archive footage from the Olympic Television 

Archive Bureau (OTAB) and the International 

Paralympic Committee (IPC). Moreover, video 

programming also included videos from the 

International Olympic Committee (IOC), 

for example "Celebrate Humanity" and from 

different Functional Areas within the Organising 

Committee, for example Sponsor Recognition 

videos, Torch Relay videos. 

Scoreboard Graphics 

The Scoreboard graphics were determined by 

Sport Presentation and were created in-house 

by the Image & Identity Department of 

ATHOC. The "still" and "animated" graphics 

were divided into two categories, the generic 

graphics, for all Competition Venues, and the 

Sport-specific graphics. The generic graphics 

included the mascots, information and 

welcoming texts, environmental protection 

themes, medical information, information on 

the Medal Ceremonies, Spectator Services 

information, etc.. while the Sport-specific 

graphics included "still" and "animated" graphics, 

as well as Sport-specific themes. 

Overall, Sport Presentation, as well as Medal 

Ceremonies, was a component of the Games 

in which the creative part was as important as 

the operational aspect. Beyond their shared 

aesthetic, they developed, during operation, 

interlinked activities and close cooperation, and 

achieved a generally acknowledged technically 

excellent result. 


Left page: 

Ancient Olympia Stadium. 

A ceremony for the 

shot put competition - the medals 

were actually awarded two days 

later at the Olympic Stadium in 

Athens. 

© ATHOC/C. Vergas 

Medal Ceremonies 

Medal Ceremonies are self-contained, 

integrated shows of a short duration. As is the 

case with every show, Ceremonies involve two 

distinct stages of activity: the creative part, and 

the production. 

Creative Part 

A proposal was submitted and approved 

regarding the creative part. This consisted of the 

creative concept for the overall aesthetic look 

and the individual concepts for sound, stage 

direction and Medal Ceremony items look. 

The overall proposal envisaged Ceremonies 

with a Greek character, full of colour and yet 

simple, diverse in form and yet consistent. 

The individual creative proposals included the 

following: 

The Costumes 

Cooperation with the "Lykeion ton Ellinidon" 

(Lyceum Club of Greek Women) was 

proposed, on the grounds that the wealth of 

Greek tradition could be presented for the first 

time in these Games. In contrast to the thus-far 

prevailing monotony of using a single costume 

in hundreds of Ceremonies, authentic 

traditional costumes of the "Lykeion ton 

Ellinidon" were used, different in each 

Ceremony. 

The costumes of the Paralympic Medal 

Ceremonies needed to correspond to a 

different concept and to different specifications. 

The Medal Ceremonies Team consisted of 

children, and their costume - in the primary 

color of the Paralympic Games - was designed 

in order to emphasise their youth. 

The Musical Theme 

The composition of a complete musical theme 

was assigned to a representative artist of 

modern Greek music. The requirementsuccessfully 

achieved - for this theme was that it 

should express all the feelings of that particular 

moment, such as emotion and pride, while 

simultaneously being a Greek theme that could 

also touch international audiences. 

The National Anthems 

The choice was made to use a specific 

recording of the National Anthems using a 

large orchestra -instead of a military bandso 

as to ensure uniformity in the quality of 

music being played during the Games. 

The Podiurns 

In terms of both their construction and 

aesthetic quality podiums met exacting 

specifications. They needed to be consistent 

with the visual identity of the Games and to 

blend harmoniously into the aesthetic context 

of the Medal Ceremonies. 

The Trays 

The simplicity and unobtrusive nature of oval 

velvet trays was selected to carry the flowers 

and medals. 

The Flowers and Wreaths 

Drawing on the abundance of Greek flora 

for inspiration and in line with the colourful 

character of the costumes, bouquets were 

created of small Greek flowers, surrounded 

with olive branches. 

However, the trademark of the Games turned 

out to be the olive wreath that crowned the 

medallists - a simple, well-made wreath of 

densely-leaved olive branches, which will stand 

as the symbol of the Greek Olympic Games in 

posterity. 


This page: 

Athens Olympic Complex 

(OAKA). Olympic Aquatic 

Centre. Medal Ceremony 

for Synchronised Swimming. 

© ATHOC/C. Cunliffe 

454 


The Medals 

Finally, the medals were a great success, as the 

proposal for their new design not only was 

adopted by the IOC and will apply in future 

Games, but was also received enthusiastically 

by Athletes, the Media and the public. This new 

design, with its central elements, the correct 

depiction of Nike -Winged Victory in flight - 

and the Panathinaiko Stadium, restored 

historical accuracy on an aesthetically 

impeccable medal. 

Production 

Production required many months of effort 

in procurement, selection and training of the 

workforce required, and operational planning, 

with the ultimate aim to ensure accurate 

implementation and a high aesthetic level in 

the end result. After the overall proposal was 

approved, Medal Ceremonies worked 

intensively to meet the requirements of 

preparing and implementing the production, 

meanwhile participating in all the test events. 

The Medal Ceremonies paid staff comprised: 

• The Venue Medal Ceremony Managers 

(12 staff), responsible for conducting Medal 

Ceremonies in one or more Venues. 

• The Venue Medal Ceremony Assistant 

Managers (14 staff), one for each team of 

volunteers, primarily responsible for 

coordinating and preparing these teams. 

• The Central Production Team, which 

coordinated Medal Ceremonies from their 

Operations Centre, located at ATHOC 

Headquarters. The Production Team consisted 

of 17 people, responsible for managing 

volunteer teams, ensuring transport to/from 

the Competition Venues, preparing Ceremony 

items and overall coordination of operations. 

The volunteers of Medal Ceremonies were 

divided into: 

• Medal Ceremonies Teams, 14 in all, comprising 

fifteen to thirty-five persons, depending on the 

team, who undertook the Medal Ceremonies 

at the Venues. The Teams included women 

volunteers who acted as flower and medal 

bearers and escorts, and a Navy detail of sailors 

acting as flag bearers. 

• Administrative support volunteers, who 

provided services at the Operations Centre of 

the Medal Ceremonies; specifically, in the 

printing process for Olympic and Paralympic 

Diplomas. 

• Especially for the Paralympic Games, volunteer 

teams consisted of schoolchildren aged 12-15, 

members of the Scouts of Greece and of the 

Greek Girl Guides Association. 

Overall, in the Medal Ceremonies held for the 

Olympic Games, a total of 235 volunteers and 

114 Navy sailors participated, while in those held 

for the Paralympic Games participations 

numbered 195 volunteers and 110 Navy sailors. 

Medal Ceremonies Operations Centre 

During the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 

the Medal Ceremonies Central Team operated 

on a 24-hour basis, from its Operations Centre, 

located in the ATHOC Headquarters. The 

dedicated premises created for the Operations 

Centre included the following: 

• Two wardrobes (I00sq.m. and 32sq.m.). 

• Separate men's and women's changing rooms. 

• Volunteers waiting area (230sq.m.). 

• Storeroom (155sq.m.), fitted with a custommade 

refrigerated space and safe, where all 

Ceremony items were kept (medals, flags, 

flowers, trays, general-purpose equipment).

This page: 

Panathinaiko Stadium. 

Medal Ceremony for 

Archery Competition. 

© ATHOC/N. Christodoulou 

• Space for printing Diplomas (approximately 

30sq.m.). A total of 7.500 such Diplomas and 

corresponding cases were produced. 

Transport of Medal Ceremonies Team 

Transport of Medal Ceremonies Teams and 

Ceremony items to the Venues, both on 

rehearsal days as well as on the days of the 

actual Ceremonies, took place using dedicated 

coaches departing from the Operations 

Centre. Due to the particular needs of the 

costumes and of the items transported, in 

addition to the coaches being security-sealed 

so that transport could take place from "clean 

to clean venue", a special Security checking 

procedure was also required. 

Medal Ceremonies Operation 

In each Competition Venue, a special 

Preparation Area for the Medal Ceremony 

Team was provided, where Ceremony items 

were kept and prepared, while the same space 

was used for the preparation of the Teams. The 

second key area of activity was the Marshalling 

Area, where the Medal Ceremonies Team, the 

presenting officials and the Olympic medallists 

assembled prior to the Ceremony. In addition 

to the 247 Ceremonies held during the test 

events, at least two dress rehearsals were 

conducted for Medal Ceremonies, with the 

cooperation of Sport Presentation, Technology 

and Sport Competition. 

During Games-time, an impressive operation 

was set up, within which everyone functioned 

extremely precisely, transporting Medal 

Ceremony Teams to all Venues and 

coordinating suppliers and associates so as 

to ensure that the Ceremonies would run 

flawlessly. The final outcome was an 

achievement: 822 Medal Ceremonies of a high 

organisational and aesthetic standard. 

Statistical Information 

303 Medal Ceremonies for the Olympic Games 

519 Medal Ceremonies for the Paralympic Games 

Awarded: 

Olympic Medals: 682 gold, 678 silver, 696 bronze 

Paralympic Medals: 737 gold, 730 silver, 741 bronze 

Workforce: 

588 (44 paid staff, 544 volunteers)

Athens 2004 Official Report - LA84 Foundation

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?